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Does your mind control your body or does your heart rule your head? Have you ever been in a situation where your emotions have taken over and you have acted in ways contrary to the way you thought you would behave? Does this mean our "thinking" self is at the mercy of our "feeling" self or are the two selves more like friends who live in conversation with each other, but not always in agreement. The relationship between the mind (psyche) and the body (soma) is complex, controversial and in many ways still mysterious. When you turn to medical and psychology textbooks to understand the relationship, there are great differences of opinion. But when the discussion centers around the term "psychosomatic" the mind-body relationship soon becomes suspect, delusionary and irrational. Psychosomatic illnesses are often seen as people fooling themselves into believing they are ill, when in actual fact their 'psychological' state has tricked them into "having" some pseudo-illness. However research and empirical evidence suggests that rather than our minds tricking us into fake illnesses our 'thinking' can in fact improve our health, gives us longer life and cure our bodies. Some of the greatest insights into this "psychosomatic recovery" are found in research conducted using the 'placebo effect'. The placebo effect has been described as "any dummy medical treatment; originally, a medicinal preparation having no specific pharmacological activity against the patient's illness". In psychological literature, the 'placebo effect' occurs "when subject's expectations lead them to experience some change even though they receive empty, fake or ineffectual treatment". What is really startling about the placebo is that it somehow mobilizes the healing force of nature inherent within the body. Researchers have shown that a simple starch pill is capable of relieving your headache even though it contains no medical substance. That 60% of gastric ulcer patients can be cured by placebo tablets. Research suggests that at least one third of all patients will improve after receiving a placebo, no matter what the illness. Often, the number is considerably higher. Placebo effects are also found with surgery. For example, patients with angina pectoris-chest pain associated with heart disease-have been shown to improve substantially following an operation that involved nothing more than a simple skin incision. Angina also improved following a type of artery surgery once believed effective but later found to be ineffective. And patients who underwent the useless surgeries reported improvement in their angina for up to 12 months following the procedures. Interestingly, placebo drugs seem to "work" much like real medications. As with real drugs, patients report more effects the more they take of a placebo drug. They also continue to report effects for a short time after discontinuing the placebo. Placebos can even cause side effects-most commonly, drowsiness, headaches, nervousness, insomnia, nausea, and constipation. Why Are Placebos Effective? Placebo effects may be due in part to anxiety reduction. Stress and anxiety adversely affect the body and increase an individual's focus on symptoms. If a patient expects to feel better soon, that alone may decrease his or her anxiety, worry, and concern-and thereby decrease stress-related symptoms. Pain patients may be more likely to notice improvement and to ignore symptoms. Some research has suggested that pain relief from placebos also may be caused by the release of endorphins (chemicals similar to narcotics) in the brain. Perhaps surprisingly, a person's personality does not predict whether he or she will show a placebo response. In fact, responding to a placebo in one situation does not mean that a person will show a placebo response in a different situation. Research has also shown that placebo effects are strongest when the patient has a high opinion of the prescribing doctor and of the treatment, and when the doctor is warm, friendly, sympathetic, and positive about both the patient and the treatment. Patients' expectations also play an important role in how they respond to a placebo. In one study, subjects swallowed a pill containing only a magnet to measure their stomach contractions. Their stomach contractions increased, decreased, or did not change according to what they had been told would happen. In a study of people with asthma, a placebo increased or decreased actual airway resistance according to what the patients were told would happen. Patient compliance may also affect placebo response, just as it affects responses to real medications. In a study that compared a new drug for coronary heart disease to a placebo, patients in the placebo group who took fewer than 80 percent of the placebo capsules had a death rate over the next five years that was almost 60 percent higher than that of patients who took more than 80 percent of the placebo capsules. "Psychosomatic Recovery" is indisputable! The 'placebo effect' has empirically demonstrated that what we 'think' dramatically affects not only the way we feel but the way we heal. |
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