• Question: Do you subscribe to the notion of the placebo effect, or put differently, do you believe that people who suffer from diseases can cure themselves using positive thoughts/believing they will beat the disease?

    Asked by DrLaw to Eleni, Hannah, Jenny, Oli, Steven on 11 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Oliver Charity

      Oliver Charity answered on 11 Nov 2016:


      DrLaw,

      The placebo effect is certainly strong, there was a study where they tested this by giving peope anti-sickness drugs and telling them they would experience vommiting, and many people did vomit. Whether you can heal yourself with thoughts and positivity – it certainly helps to have a positive outlook on something, and being optimistic is a positive thing for humans. We think positive things (optimism) as a species as people in the past who were optimistic survived over those who thought badly (were pessimistic). This is evolution in action! However, I wouldnt suggest someone with a real illness not take medication for it, thinking positively helps, but there’s no evidence that it actually cures people.

      Oli

    • Photo: Hannah Bolt

      Hannah Bolt answered on 11 Nov 2016:


      Hi DrLaw,

      Yes, the placebo effect has been proven many times to be a real phenomenon. Many scientists think that the placebo effect is caused by a patients expectations, so if someone expects a drug to do something, their body will react and cause similar effects to the drug. Physical changes to the body’s chemistry have been found, for example, some studies have measured an increase in the body’s production of endorphins, one of the body’s natural painkillers. Sometimes, the placebo effect has been shown to occur, even when the patient knows they are taking a placebo, so the link between positive thoughts and treatment is very complicated. Therefore, as Oli says, thinking positively definitely helps, but if a Doctor has suggested drugs for a particular illness, you should still take them!

      Hannah

    • Photo: Jenny Batson

      Jenny Batson answered on 12 Nov 2016:


      Hi
      I believe that the placebo effect can have a huge influence on how someone perceives their disease and treatment is working and this has been shown in trials. However, I don’t think you can use it or expect it to cure disease because it has to be subconscious. I do think that a positive attitude can help someone to feel better though and this might help them get better.
      Jenny

    • Photo: Steven Street

      Steven Street answered on 13 Nov 2016:


      Hi Dr Law,

      An excellent question!

      I think, as the others have said, that the placebo effect has been proven to be real, and can have many positive effects. This doesn’t mean that it can completely cure the disease though… taking actual medication is the answer to being cured if it’s available!

      I think that being positive can have many beneficial effects though. Your mood is related to the release of all kinds of chemicals in your brain. This brain chemistry can have all kinds of effects on your body, such as epigenetic changes, which can modify / control the gene expression in your body! Even love can be related to brain chemistry. Being positive (or not being negative) can therefore cause positive epigenetic changes to occur… I could be wrong, but I don’t think that this is a particularly well understood area of science though!

      Steve

Comments