Don't Under Estimate the Power of the Placebo Effect

Just over 100 people were entered into an experiment.

All we knew was that all of the participants had suffered chronic back pain for a number of years. Most were at their wits end, having tried multiple different treatments but to no avail.

Half of the group were to receive a new "wonder drug" that was being trialled. The other half would receive a control or neutral drug - a 'placebo'.

Everyone was aware of this setup, but no-one knew who was receiving the placebo drug (and who wasn't...).

All of the participants checked in with regular reports on how they were getting on throughout the three-week experiment.

After the first week of negligible improvements, things started to improve for some of them. A young mother with young kids could now manage to take her kids to the park for the afternoon - you could see the delight on the kids' faces, as well as hers. Another reported how he could now crouch down to work on telephone lines for his work.

But most impressive of all was an elderly guy who was confined to a wheel-chair (for other medical reasons) but his back pain was making everything more difficult. He'd had to leave his boat due to his poor health. But he experienced huge improvements. So much so that he could stand up and walk a few steps plus he decided to give up his morphine treatment in favour of this new "wonder drug". He even managed to get back on a boat with tears of delight.

Following the three week trial period, just under half of the participants reported reductions in back pain with some experiencing relief for the first time in 15-20 years.

And then came the big announcement:

They had ALL received the placebo drug.

The drugs that they had all taken were the same. They contained nothing more than ground rice.

The healing had come from their own brains. Scientists can now see the physical changes in the brain that are triggered by placebo experiments. Our brains can generate pain relief more effective than morphine.

Placebo is not trickery or fakery - it is a real scientific and medical phenomena.

Why it worked for some, not all, is still a mystery...

The UK TV documentary is worth a watch if you can find it online: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bmblb8!