The Placebo Effect In Our Every Day Life Experience.

During a true medical study, or any scientific study, really, participants are separated into two groups: The control group. And the uncontrolled (or the experimental) group. 

This is the basic scientific process we all learned about, and hopefully participated in ourselves, in our years of education growing up. 

In the medical world, the best version of this necessary 'scientific method' (as it is officially called) is known as a 'double-blind' experiment.

This means that individuals in both the control group, and the uncontrolled group, have zero clue about the group in which they will become a part. They are essentially 'blinded' from this information. 

If only one group were 'blinded' it would be called a 'single-blind' study. 

When both parties are 'blinded', it is called 'double'.

As one might imagine, conducting a 'double-blind' study is considered the most effective at truly understanding the substance of curiosity. It is considered the 'Gold Standard, as doing this minimizes the potential of the participant inserting their own ideas, previous experiences, hopes, etc. into the experiment, essentially skewing true results.

In a double-blind herbal medicinal study, for example, aiming to see if there are effects aided by a particular herbal medicine, or if there are not, there would be a control group - the group that receives 'a placebo', or a substance that is known not to have any medicinal affect on the body (i.e. a sugar pill, water droplets, or a topical salve consisting of only the base ingredients, no herbs) ......

And then there would be an uncontrolled, or experimental group - the group which actually does receive the herbal medicine being tested (ideally in the exact same form as the control; i.e. in a pill format, water droplets, or topical salve, etc.)

Now let's get to the confusing part. 

The Placebo Effect. 

Many times, in medical studies, scientists will come across what they refer to as 'the placebo-effect'.

In an experiment the following may occur:

The control group (aka, the ones receiving the placebo, or the non-medicinal substance) experiences the exact same outcome as the experimental group. 

Meaning: the group improves (or even declines) in symptoms as imagined by the true substance of study (in the case above, an herbal medicinal substance), even while receiving only the non-medicinal substance. 

This could mean one of two things: the substance of study didn't actually do what was expected, and effects would have occurred regardless of the substance being applied or used.

Or It could also mean there is a 'placebo-effect' at play. 

Aka: the group receiving no medicine at all experiences real physical and measurable changes in themselves, simply by believing it (or believing they are part of the experimental group), an in turn meeting the same expectations of the control group, and sometimes, even exceeding them.

The best way to test if this effect is in fact at play, or not, is to repeat the experiments, first, having both parties, the controlled group and the uncontrolled group, receive only the placebo, while, again, telling both groups of individuals they are getting the true medicinal substance being studied. And then repeating yet again, with both groups receiving only the placebo, only this time, telling both groups they are part of the placebo group, ensuring that both parties believe there is no actual medicine involved.

When the outcomes continue to be the same, it is confirmation that there is likely a true placebo-effect going on. 

Now at first glance, this might seem like quite a baffling phenomena. 

But my question to you today is, should it be?

Or should we consider the fact that the mind. and more specifically, the expectations of the mind, with its hopes, beliefs, goals, and intentions, may, in actuality, be a critical, yet vastly underestimated, ingredient, not only in scientific studies, but in real, every day life experiences, as well. 

Think about it.

Read the studies below. 

Think about it some more. 

And see where you end up.

Happy reading. :-)

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STUDIES & RESOURCES:

(The studies below are nowhere near an exhaustive list. Always continue your own research and read the papers within each paper below.)

1) The Neuroscience Of Placebo Effects: Connecting Context, Learning And Health

2) Placebo Effects: Clinical Aspects And Neurobiology

3) The Placebo Effect: Illness and Interpersonal Healing

4) The Fascinating Mechanisms and Implications of the Placebo Effect

5) Placebo: A Brief Updated Review

6) Neurobiological Mechanisms of the Placebo Effect

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