"Once the truth about mind/body health and healing becomes visible we will be able to use it to get well and stay well. It is free, it is powerfully effective, and we all have it in abundance."
"All acquired health problems are caused by negative habits of mind."
We are on the cusp of a brave new world of medicine and healing. It has been coming
for a long time. The real secret is that it has been here all along. But it has
been invisible to many people, including non-holistic medical and health care practitioners.
When things are invisible to us we don't recognize them, we don't believe in them
and so we can't take advantage of them. Once the truth about mind/body health and
healing becomes visible we will be able to use it to get well and stay well. It
is free, it is powerfully effective, and we all have it in abundance.
Let's talk about it.
Placebo Effect
In his genre-defining book, The Biology of Belief, cell biologist Bruce Lipton wrote
"…Some historians make a strong case that the history of medicine is largely the
history of the placebo effect" (108). That's a powerful yet mysterious statement.
What does it mean?
First, what is the placebo effect? A placebo is a neutral, non-medicinal substance
or procedure that has no medical or healing properties or capabilities. The placebo
effect is what happens when people get well after taking a placebo or after receiving
a placebo treatment. In the classic studies people who thought they were taking
prescribed medications were only taking sugar pills (placebos). But even though
they weren't taking any prescribed medications their symptoms were relieved exactly
as if they had. This means that the people got well because they believed they were
receiving medicine that they expected would make them well. They got well for no
other reason than that they believed they would get well and that they expected
to get well.
Doctors and pharmaceutical companies know all about this. They base their work and
their research on the fact that approximately 30% of the time people get well strictly
by virtue of the placebo effect and not from medical treatments or medicines. That
means that at least 30% of the time people get well not because they take their
medicine, follow their doctor's orders, or have a medical procedure: they get well
under their own steam-and they don't even know it!
How do they do it?
One thing's for sure: they aren't doing it the way they think they are, because
they don't even think they're the one doing it! They think the medicine or the procedure
causes the healing effect. But with the placebo effect there never even was a medication
or a procedure.
A 2002 Baylor University study published in the New England Journal of Medicine
is a perfect example. Before this study was published no non-holistic practitioner
would have believed it was possible for there to be a placebo effect in orthopedic
surgery. In the study, two groups of patients with the same severe, debilitating
knee injury were treated two different ways. One group received an orthopedic procedure
(knee surgery) while the other 50% believed they were receiving the procedure but
were only sedated, given a little show in the operating "theatre," and received
as a souvenir authentic incisions and stitches. Both groups recovered equally well
and resumed normal, pain free physical activity.
Other studies, in which antidepressant medications were replaced with placebos,
resulted in an 80% reduction in or relief of symptoms. That's a better result than
the medication gets! Apparently the body knows more about healing than pharmaceutical
companies do.
Most research indicates that on average hypnosis achieves about 80% effectiveness
in treating medical symptoms and pain-with no medication and no surgery. (Hypnosis
may be thought of as the intentional activation of the placebo effect. See
Journal
Article five.)
Bruce Lipton's quote begins to make a lot of sense.
The placebo effect is much more powerful than many people have dared to imagine.
But wait. This still doesn't explain the placebo effect.
Triggering Placebo Effect
There are two predisposing conditions that apparently trigger the placebo effect.
One is that the person has complete confidence and faith in the healer, doctor,
friend, shaman or other professional who is prescribing the medicine, performing
the procedure or incantation, or conducting the healing session or séance. The other
predisposing condition is that the person has previously experienced a healing effect
with the medicine, remedy, substance, procedure or practitioner
So, if we have enough confidence in the opinion or experience of the person to whom
we are referred then she has credibility and that may be all it takes for us to
get the placebo effect from the treatment. Or else if we tried something and it
worked before, then we'll expect it to work again and that is likely to trigger
the placebo effect.
Here's an example that illustrates both conditions.
When my daughter was in middle school she had her ears pierced. One of the piercings
became infected and on the second night was so painful that she was unable to get
to sleep. She was very agitated, anxious and upset. My wife has an assortment of
"essential oils," which are natural aromatic plant oils. In front of my daughter
I asked my wife-so that the patient wouldn't understand what I meant-"Which one
of the essential oils has the most placebo in it?" Being a nurse by trade, she knew
exactly what I meant and she said "tea tree oil" (which has no anesthetic properties
whatsoever but which is very aromatic). We applied the tea tree oil to the painful
area; the patient reported an almost instantaneous decrease in pain. Soon there
was no pain. She went back to bed, quickly fell asleep, and slept comfortably through
the night. She used the oil to relieve her pain until the earlobe was healed, and
she subsequently used it successfully for pain on a number of other occasions.
But the oil never caused the pain to go away.
What did cause the pain to go away? The oil was just the trigger, and it worked
because of my daughter's confidence in us. Then it worked for her again because
it had worked before.
Placebo Effect is Self-Healing
We know what triggers the placebo effect, but what actually causes it?
Here's the very obvious and simple answer: the placebo effect is caused by the natural
way your mind-and bodymind-work when prompted by your thoughts, beliefs, and expectations.
Thanks to seminal researchers and writers such as Candace Pert, Sharon Begley, Bruce
Lipton, Ernest Rossi and Norman Doidge we now know what the biochemical and brain
science mechanisms are that cause your mind to direct your body to be insensitive
to pain and to heal itself. But all of that is far less important-and far less useful
to us-than the simple fact that under certain circumstances of belief we are capable
of telling our mind that it is okay for our body to do what it has known how to
do all along-be healed and whole-and it will do it! For this reason Bruce Lipton
calls the placebo effect the "belief effect." I will take that one step farther
and simply call it self-healing, because that is exactly what it is.
It appears that only under certain very special, specific and unusual circumstances
can you convincingly tell your body to self-heal, but why should that be the case?
Why should special and unusual circumstances be required for you to tell your body
to go ahead and heal itself? Why can't you do it all the time? After all,
your body
already knows how to heal itself and it always has.
Your Mind can Heal
Your Body
With Bruce Lipton's quote in mind ("The history of medicine is largely the history
of the placebo effect"), we must ask ourselves why do we think we need the authority
of a medical doctor, laboratory scientist, pharmacologist, medicine woman-or anyone
else-to convince us of the power and authority of our own mind and body to heal
itself and be whole? We only think someone else has that authority because it's
what we have been taught, not because it's true.
Increasing numbers of people are embracing the fact of holistic health and self-healing,
while others remain skeptical. Your doctor and pharmacist are already convinced
that your body can get well all by itself. And it will-once you are convinced too.
How about it? What will it take to convince you that your mind can heal your body?
Through Force of Habit you learn how to convince your mind that it is capable of
healing your body. You learn to clear your mind of the habits that cause and sustain
negative mental and health conditions. All acquired health problems are caused by
negative habits of mind. Bruce Lipton puts it this way: "Almost every major illness
that people acquire has been linked to chronic stress" (121). In time, I expect
research to demonstrate that all acquired illnesses are linked to stress.
Chronic
stress causes illness; chronic stress is caused by
anxiety; anxiety is a habit of
the mind. When your mind is cleared of negative habits your body will heal itself.
Your mind heals your body by the same exact mechanisms that it used to make your
body unhealthy in the first place. As soon as we understand this we will have the
same power and authority our doctor has-and probably much more.
For additional examples of mind/body healing experiences visit JOURNAL ARTICLES. You can also view a fascinating two-segment BBC (1) (2) program on the subject.
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