There have been a lot of experiments that have all concluded that the placebo effect exists. In order to clarify, the placebo effect defines a situation where people are given a sugar pill, or a sterile water injection, while the patient thinks they are getting the real thing. Time and again, experiments showed that people who were given a placebo but who thought they were getting the real medication, recovered from their illness.
Placebo Surgery
Another variation of this was where patients suffering from knee problems were divided into three groups. The first group received a keyhole surgical intervention that washed out the knee with a high pressure water spray. The second group received a keyhole surgical intervention that involved scraping away the damaged tissue. The third group received a keyhole surgical intervention that put the patient through the same time on the operating table as the other two groups, and the keyhole incision was then closed, without anything being done.
Many patients in the third group reported after recovering from their operation, that their knees felt better and worked more efficiently. Even after they were told that nothing had been done, their recovery continued – there was no relapse.
New Insights Into the Placebo Effect
Until very recently, the placebo effect was considered to be a purely psychological response. However, scientists have now discovered something very exciting. When given a placebo, the body manufactures the same chemicals as would be provided by the equivalent pharmaceutical drug! In other words, we all have a pharmaceutical lab inside us that can produce all of the drugs we need, if we can only trigger the process!
The Placebo Effect and “Miracle” Cures
Scientists are often quick to dismiss “miracle cures” and any benefits arising from complementary medicine as being “just the placebo effect”. Not only is this ironic, given the amazing abilities of the body to manufacture the cure it needs, it also hides a challenging truth. Dr Benson, of Harvard University, opened Pandora’s Box when he conducted a rigorous study that revealed that no treatment for Angina Pectoris, either by drugs or surgery, outperformed the 35% placebo effect.
But when the physician and patient both believed in the treatment, the success rate soared to 90%!
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