Opinions Dec 9, 2021

Placebo and nocebo

Article rating:2
Placebo and nocebo

So, all of you have known for a long time that the placebo effect means recovery with the help of the mind.

Nobody argues with this, because a whole slew of official scientific experiments has been carried out since 1955. Of course, the result depends on each person individually, so if you stock yourself up on a sufficient amount of skepticism and resistance, then nothing will work. And people are inclined to this, while at the same time wanting some kind of guarantees from the outside. Which is quite funny, since it turns out that people would prefer believing in chemicals and equipment, of which they know nothing, rather than their own consciousness.

So, two smart men Martin Michalis and Mark Wass of the University of Kent in the UK have recently conducted a quantitative study of the nocebo effect. Nocebo is a placebo in reverse, that is the production of painful symptoms by the body in response to all sorts of negative silly thoughts in the human brain.
These guys decided to play tough and took for their research the hottest topic of our days - the Covid with its vaccinations. Already intriguing, right? And then everything went on as usual: a group of really vaccinated people and a control group, receiving a bit of saline in their shoulders.
And what do you think happened? As in the similar Pfizer vaccine tests in 2020, the control group gave out all the symptoms! 10% complained about muscle pain, 25% - of headaches, and 33% - of general fatigue.

It is interesting that earlier classic studies of both placebo and nocebo effects show different numbers. On average, placebo works 33% of the time, and nocebo works 77%. Why? 

Because the negative is always much stronger than the positive. As in mathematics, minus by plus gives minus, so in our psyche, protection from danger is much more important than the experience of joy.
Of course, I'm not writing all this about pills, doctors, medics, healers and psychologists. These wonderful effects of our brain functioning apply decisively to all of life. As Henry Ford said, whether you think you’ll succeed or fail, you’re right in both cases.
So, dear companions in life, remember that the main danger is always in your own head. And in order to activate pleasant feelings in yourself, you will have to be disciplined at gratitude, smiles, as well as watch some kitties and listen to comedians. Moreover, you have to do it 2-5 times more than swearing, cursing, watching news and horror movies, which leads to the bad mood, decreased immunity and, accordingly, diseases.
Stay sane and don’t take anything heavy into your hands or anything sad into your hearts :)

Related Tags: