You’re probably not going to believe many of the health facts presented below. However, please understand that they are true. These facts about the brain, verified by years of testing, were assembled by a team of top-rated and highly-credited German and British researchers working in some of the best-equipped labs in out-of-the-way facilities associated with some of the finest universities in Europe.
Here are some startling, but true, brain facts about medicine, health, and the well-being of patients:
- Medicines that cost more have greater healing qualities than lower-priced medicines of the same exact chemical composition.
- In some studies, doses of saline solution often worked just as well as the drugs that should have been used.
- A drug with a well-known name often works better than those drugs less well-known, though chemically identical.
- Determined months, even years, during follow-up and quality-of-life investigations, patients given a certain sham surgical procedure often did just as well physically, socially and emotionally as those who had actually undergone the surgery.
- Patients whose doctors radiate confidence, and spend more time with them, often exhibit quicker healing or more positive responses to therapy, than those whose doctors did not.
- Patients who undergo an elaborate therapy regimen usually do better than those who do not. Where a pill or injection should have been all that’s necessary, patients responded more positively if the therapy went beyond the simple procedure of dispensing a drug or an injection. These extra treatments could be as simple as bathing therapies or exercise routines, for example.
- No matter how promising or how well-proven, expressing any doubt or uncertainty by the health care professional regarding the efficacy of a medication or procedure, usually makes the treatment less effective than should have been realized.
- Athletes who had received injections of analgesics to ease their pain during training, showed the same relief from simple saline injections long after the actual medications had left their bodies. Thus, they passed doping tests required in most athletic competitions while experiencing the positive effects of the otherwise illegal dopes. Athletic committees are flummoxed as how to treat this “doping placebo” effect.
These facts have had momentous implications about healing, medicine, and even bedside manner. Many psychologists, biologists, and other behavioral and social scientists are beginning to view placebos as a way to understand how the brain can control bodily processes to promote healing. Up until recently, doctors were dismissing the use of placebos to harness the healing energy of our brains. They are now considering placebo pills and procedures as a way of enhancing the effectiveness of drugs and surgery or supplanting them completely. (Don’t tell anyone!)
Your brain is supposed to be your friend.
Now consider this: Everything you have read above has no basis in medical fact, the history of medicine, or even medical lore. If you’ll go back and read the first paragraph, you will see many pseudo-facts that led you to believe these facts are true. “Years of testing” helped the ruse. “…team of top-rated and highly-credited German and British researchers…” helped the lie along because Germans are perceived as technologically adept and people who speak with a British accent are usually considered above average in terms of intelligence. “…best-equipped labs …” speaks for itself. Citing “…out-of-the-way facilities…” hints of exclusivity or insider-information. The use of European universities is another push towards high learning, wisdom or knowledge. It’s so easy to fool the masses; isn’t it?
Now get this. Your brain is supposed to be your friend. But it can be manipulated in many ways. The placebo effect is one way your brain has of fooling you and itself – usually to your benefit. Everything noted in the bullet points above and the paragraph that follows them is absolutely true. The first paragraph is cobbled-together half-truths. The brain’s placebo effect is very powerful and its usefulness is indeed being taken seriously and studied. Or is it?
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