Placebo Effect: Tapping the Hidden Powers of the Mind

I remember being a sickly child and having my parents tell me to hush, kiss me on the forehead, and say everything is going to be fine. It was the warmest feeling of care I could remember and it somehow gave me an invisible shield of protection that made me feel better the next day. Is this some kind of magic?

For the same reason, doctors are giving patients placebo pills to make the mind believe that these miracle pills will cure them. The most fascinating thing is that it works in most cases, and there are even reports of people feeling relief from arthritis, ulcers, herpes, and even cancer – just because of a simple sugar pill.

They call this the placebo effect – when someone is treated with a medication that has no therapeutic value. The patient believes that it is going to work, making them respond better to these pills than other treatments. Indigenous tribes have been using this form of healing in objects and rituals. Even those over-the-counter drug with no therapeutic claim can give the same placebo effect.

In short, placebo effect is the mystery that we don’t know about the human brain. Science says that we are only using a small portion of its capacity and there are hidden powers still. Maybe, one of these powers is the capacity to regenerate living cells like some sci-fi flick.

A small experiment had been made on tricking the mind of a person with allergy. It’s amazing how the patient’s body have reacted to the idea of being exposed to allergens that triggered an allergic reaction, when the truth is, it never happened in reality at all. This tells us a lot about our power to control everything in our body.

The question now is: Are Placebo Pills Ethical?

Giving care is good, but giving placebo pills are deceptive. Why would parents want to give their children sugar pills? This will give a wrong impression on the value of medicine. Parents must be wise to use them on their kids, or they might run into a serious case of misdiagnosis. In a personal point of view, doctors should advise patients to live a healthy, natural lifestyle instead of giving people placebo pills. What makes me wonder is the number of people out there who find relief in popping up a pill.

The mind is a very powerful tool that you can use for you to live your life to the fullest. Knowing that you have the power to be who you will to be – can be a terrifying realization. There are surely positive ways for you to benefit from it, to live healthy and worry-free.

It’s all in your mind…