If the placebo effect works by tricking the brain, why does it need to be tricked if it’s apparently able to solve the issue on its own?
In: 6662
*There is no spoon*
Explain like you’re 5, ok.
The placebo effect won’t fix a broken arm.
The placebo effect might fix a problem created by your imagination.
Let’s say that you really really believe you’re allergic to electricity. Every time you go near electricity, you act as if it’s making you sick.
You’re training your brain that when you go near electricity, you’re supposed to feel sick, so eventually… you DO start to feel sick when you’re near electricity, because that’s what you’ve trained your brain to do when you’re near it. Then you TRULY start to believe that you’re allergic to electricity, because your body actually is reacting on its own.
But then your younger brother hides a cell phone in your pocket, you don’t know it’s there, you don’t feel sick until he tells you about it- because again, your brain isn’t making you sick because of the electricity, it’s making you sick because that’s what you’ve trained it to do when you *know* that you are near electricity.
If I gave you a vitamin and told you that it would remove the feelings of sickness when near electricity, and you believed me… you might take this vitamin, telling your brain “brain, when I eat this, it keeps me from getting sick around electricity”. Your brain goes “well, ok, I guess when you eat that vitamin, you won’t get sick near electricity”.
Even though the vitamin actually does nothing, YOU are giving your brain an exception to the rule YOU created for it.
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