Surprising New Revelations About Placebos
Placebos have been used by scientists as a means to test the effects of certain new drugs against the bodys own ability to heal. Placebos dont contain any medicinal properties whatsoever in trying to treat certain diseases and conditions. But there is something quite surprising about recent discoveries about placebos and how they might affect the body.
Placebos And Irritable Bowel Syndrome
According to a recent study made by researchers at Harvard Medical School, people with suffering from irritable bowel syndrome showed significant improvement in symptoms for their condition after being given a bottle of pills that was labeled “PLACEBO”. The participants were also told that placebos have shown to be quite effective for treating such conditions during clinical trials. Despite the pills given were obviously labeled as such and had no medicinal property whatsoever, they surprisingly still worked.
The More Expensive, The Better
It is not only that placebos seem to surprisingly work with types of conditions. There also seems to be a study that showed the more expensive the placebo, the more effective it is. In a report made by the German Medical Association, it seems that the more expensive the placebo used, the more effective it seems to work. And also, it seems that placebos that are injected intravenously seem to work better than those placebos that are taken orally.
Other Surprising Results
It seems that is may not just be placebos that might work. There is also a study conducted that treated osteoarthritis patients with fake acupuncture where the needles were inserted in non traditional locations. Surprisingly, it worked quite as well in relieving the pain that the patients felt as the real thing. Moreover, the results were reported to be better when the practitioner said things such as “I’ve had a lot of success with treating knee pain” rather than saying, “It may or may not work for you.”
What it may tell us is that the brain can work in surprising ways in trying to treat certain conditions. The fact that the treatments used in the mentioned studies were considered not to have any medicinal value just goes to show that a person’s mental state may also help influence cures. Mental processes seem to work hand in hand in trying to make the body well. It might even be quite effective and sometime comparable to using legitimate medicines in order to treat certain health conditions.
Source: http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/the-latest-science-on-placebos-surprising-benefits-you-never-knew-about-2562460/
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Tags: About, Placebos, Revelations, Surprising
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