Placebos real effects on the brain

[CBL4]

Jon-Kar Zubieta from University of Michigan have published a study which seems to show that placebos for pain actually cause your body to produce pain killers.

THE placebo effect, long considered nothing more than psychological suggestibility, does now appear to be genuine. Researchers this week demonstrated that when a person is treated with a substance which he or she believes to have the power to relieve pain, the brain can be tricked into setting in motion some of that pain relief.
...
What he [Zubieta] found was that when the placebo was being administered—and the subjects were informed when it was—their brains released significantly more endorphins, the brain's natural painkillers. The researchers knew this because they had introduced a radioactive tracer that selectively binds to the same type of receptor in the brain, the mu-opioid variety, as the endorphins. More of the tracer was floating around unbound, suggesting the receptor sites were occupied by the endorphins. The work was published this week in the Journal of Neuroscience.

http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=4316165

CBL

 

[JenJen]

Can I assume, then, that it's not a gigantic leap to think that hypnosis and meditation can be effective for pain control?

Jen

 

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

Many things may be effective for pain control based on their placebo effect. The problem comes when doctors are asked to prescribe these things:

Dr. A.: I'm going to prescribe homeopathic quantum zen for your pain.

Sally: Marvelous. I could really use something.

Dr. A.: This stuff works quite well.

Sally: Has it been tested in double-blind placebo controlled trials?

Dr. A.: I'm not sure.

Sally: Does it work by the placebo effect?

Dr. A.: I cannot answer that on the grounds that it might cancel the effectiveness. I wish you hadn't asked.


~~ Paul

 

[Eos of the Eons]

Poor sod cannot pay medicine man for his services.

Medicine man curses him, and tells him that he is going to die.

Poor sod is so afraid of this doom and cannot eat, sleep, or drink. Poor sod dies of dehydration. Population credits the curse.

Placebo affect can work against you.

Another example:

Lady gets CAM for pain. She relaxes as she feels relief is in sight. She then feels relief, and credits CAM. She suddenly cannot pay for CAM. She gets all stressed and the pain comes back in spades. She credits lack of CAM for pain and suffers instead of using other relaxation techniques to ease stress/tension/anxiety induced pain symptoms.

Keep in mind that pain brought on by other means will not be helped so much by CAM in the long run. Placebo effect won't work on everything.

Why pay for a placebo affect when you can induce it in yourself for free?

 

[Beth]

Why pay for a placebo affect when you can induce it in yourself for free?

Indeed, but the question is, can you? I think that many cannot.

 

[Eos of the Eons]

Just have to learn how to relax and enjoy something you find enjoyable/soothing. I think most people can find a cheap placebo this way.

For serious pain that might be from a treatable condition...go see a doctor.