If the placebo effect can cure certain conditions without actual outside help, why can our bodies not cure the condition without the placebo?

Question

Example: If taking a placebo painkiller can cure my headache, why can my body not cure it on its own?

In: Biology

Answer 1

Generally the placebo effect isn’t curing a condition, but instead curing a symptom.

Like say, you take a pill that you think will make a head ache go away, and the head ache goes away.

Or take a pill you think will dull some arthritis pain, and your arthritis pain dulls.

In neither of these cases is the placebo or your body really fixing the condition, instead what is changing is how your brain is interpreting your condition.

Say you broke your finger, you’re in pain, take a pill (placebo), expect to feel less pain, and your finger now hurts less. Your finger is still broken and your body is still working on healing it normally. What changing is how your brain is reacting/interpreting the signals it is getting, because brains are weird things.