I was just watching a programme about the science behind faith heeling. And it quite obviously turned into a documentary about the placebo effect. There is no doubting that it exists. But we still dont understand the science behind placebo.
Does anybody have any thoughts on what might cause thinking something is happening to it actualy happening. Im interested in the benefits of such knowledge, in the future it may be possible to harness such effect to heal without the need for any actual medication.
The body and mind influence each other; thoughts affect the bodily state, and the bodily state affects what we think about. If we think something is helping that puts us in a hopeful state of mind and helps us stop obsessing about it and move on to other things. This in turn reduces feelings of anxiety and increases feelings of well-being, hope, and confidence. Such feelings take the focus off of whatever physiological problem the person may be having, so that perhaps the person forgets it altogether and feels cured. That would be my guess.
I dont agree, forgeting about an illness is not how placebo works. Placebo isnt just something that puts people in a positive frame of mind. It convinces them that they are cured and so their body somehow actualy cures the problem. Its not about thinking its cured, it realy does physicaly cure them.
Trust me, they were never physically sick to begin with.
Problems like depression can make you feel physically ill to the point where you can’t get out of bed. Anxiety can make you feel like you have heart problems and all of it can even affect your ability to take a crap!
So, most mental problems are caused by your philosophy of life and if someone comes along with enough energy to help you get a new vision, that maybe you’re secretly hoping for, then suddenly you feel charged up with positive thoughts and feelings! I’m cured!
Mental problems can be cured by discounting the thoughts that caused you to have negative feelings.
I watched the same show that angst-ridden had watched and the experiments that were carried out went far beyond depressive issues. There was a particular experiment involved with people who had arthritic knees and half the group were operated on and half the group were led to believe they were opererated on. They were put under anesthetic and their knees were cut open and the doctors and nurses pretended to perform the operations, so operations were never actually performed but the patients actually healed.
Yes, I was about to point out waht LA just said. Im not looking at the placebo effect as some miracle magic thing. Its something scientific which we know little about. There is not doubt it exists, we just have to find out how it works, how it can heal something unrelated to the mind.
Well, the mind and the body are connected. In fact I would go as far as to say they are the same thing or at the very least they are symbiotic. Anyway there is evidence, how it works I believe will only be revealed to us when we are available for that level of information. As yet we are in the dark, because we are in the dark, you know, we need a paradigm shift to be able to understand. Until then…
Well, arthritis is usually an autoimmune system problem. I had an usual childhood form of it and got rid of most of it through exercise, and that’s because increased circulation can wash away attacking cells, and endorphins are released and they are natural pain killers. So, perhaps the thrill of the faith healing released endorphins that helped with the pain.
In philly a local college focuses on behavioral medicine in conjunction with medical doctors. The idea is that any and all illness cause one to have emotional changes. The more chronic the condition the more intense the anxiety and depression. That’s because the person’s thought process becomes fatalistic or excessively focused on their disease.
So, again, the thrill of someone offering hope and magic may disprove your fatalistic thoughts and fill you with excitement that releases endorphins that make you feel great. If this is true it would be smart to check up on the people in like five or ten years to see how they’re doing.
Well the case in which the peoples arthritis was cured had nothing to do with faith healing. I am not talking about faith healing here. I am talking about the placebo effect in which they convince peo-ple they re going to be cured of physical problems and they are. They didnt heal them with faith healing, they healed them by convincing them that they were having real surgery to cure the arthritis. They did everything they would have in a real surgical operation only they didnt actualy cut into skin or physicaly fix it.
I think they did this fake surgery in 1995 on one man, on the programme they went back to see him and his knee was still perfectly fine as if it had been healed by surgery. If it had been just a thing of the mind then surely the arthritis would have come back after he was told that he didnt actualy have surgery.
I’m terribly pedantic. Here we go…The causes are physical, basically are a crystalisation of acid in the joints, too much acid in the bloodstream from a protein rich diet, over indulgence in alcholol and sugars. Also it can be genetic. There are far less traumatic ways than surgery of healing these from a complimentary point of view. But not everyone knows these methods.
Osteoarthritis - A degenerative joint disease in which the cartilage that covers the ends of bones in the joint deteriorates, causing pain and loss of movement as bone begins to rub against bone. It is the most prevalent form of arthritis.
Rheumatoid Arthritis - An autoimmune disease in which the joint lining becomes inflamed as part of the body’s immune system activity. Rheumatoid arthritis is one of the most serious and disabling types, affecting mostly women.
Gout - Affects mostly men. This painful condition most often attacks small joints, especially the big toe. Fortunately, gout almost always can be completely controlled with medication and changes in diet.
Ankylosing Spondylitis - A type of arthritis that affects the spine. As a result of inflammation, the bones of the spine grow together.
Juvenile Arthritis - A general term for all types of arthritis that occur in children. Children may develop juvenile rheumatoid arthritis or childhood forms of lupus, ankylosing spondylitis or other types of arthritis.
The brain handles a lot of the bodies chemicals and hormones. It does a lot of things subcontiously. Our belief and faith changes our actions inside and outside. Having faith in yourself may be equal to or better then pracebo?
Juvenile Arthritis - A general term for all types of arthritis that occur in children. Children may develop juvenile rheumatoid arthritis or childhood forms of lupus, ankylosing spondylitis or other types of arthritis.
That’s what I had and I all but got rid up it through weight lifting and walking. Like I said, the blood moving around washes the cells that are attacking your joints away, and you feel better.
Faith healing:
Well, I would want proof that a person had a real, and intense disease, and they got better. Also, it has to be more than chance, so more than a few cases are needed.
The proof is in the programme, ive looked for links but I cant find any at the moment. Youll just have to trust mine and LA’s word. But he the one they interviewed on the programme did have a serious problem, and there were many more but they werent interviewed.
No, I believe you as I’ve seen similar shows before. If it’s true then I have to conclude that some kind of battle in the body has been turned via a change in how you feel.
Yeah its pretty damn simple. Well put Dan. You think you are going to get better the brain releases endorphines, and you feel better. You think you are a peice of garbage, and that the world is meaningless, your brain inhibits the release of seritonin.
It would be quite amazing if we could harness this power, the problem is most of us have difficulty lying to ourselves.
Alas, no having faith in yourself will never be equal or better then a placebo, pmsl. Look faith isn’t going to cure you of cancer, or even a small infection. Faith can simply keep your body’s immune system functioning optimally(your state of mind does have a large effect on the immune system), and it can also block signals of pain by creating endorphines. As for miracles… people have been searching for them for ages, and they’ve never been found. faith can’t make you fly, and it can’t heal wounds, it can although blind you to reality, which in effect… is the placebo effect! (and religion, pmsl )
Actually unless I’m terribly mistaken we undertand a lot about it. Unless you think that there is some magical leap between somebody believing in something, and the brain releasing a chemical. Pretty straight foward if you ask me. Your mind state effects your brain state, taken from the simple fact that mind is brain.
Finally, diseases in your body, if cured, is not unrelated to your mind. Body, and mind aren’t seperate entities.
(and religion, pmsl 
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