Power of Placebo

As I have probably mentioned elsewhere in this blog, the placebo effect is a mysterious, but wonderful phenomena where the body heals itself, based on the expectations of the person being healed (combined with the sovereign power of God of course) rather than through the usual means of a drug or some other healing agent. I have often wondered by doctors don't deliberately try to invoke the power of placebo more often. It is cheap and non-toxic, after all.

The following short article is from the February 2004 issue of Alive magazine, page 18.

"Giant hoax or medical miracle, scientists are one step closer to understanding a long-debated mystery, the power of placebo, which can apparently turn sugar pills into powerful drugs.

"Finnish and Swedish researchers have revealed more about how this mind-body interaction works. A placebo, they reported in the February 2002 issue of Science magazine, activates the same pain control impulses in the same region of the brain as painkillers.

"This noteworthy phenomenon got big coverage after the New England Journal of Medicine reported that arthritis patients who only thought they'd undergone knee surgery experienced benefits similar to real surgery patients.

"Another recent meta-analysis of 96 studies found the effects of anti-depressants such as Prozac and Zoloft can be largely duplicated by placebo (75 per cent).

"While skeptics continue to ponder placebo's successes, many researchers would agree that a patient's beliefs -- particularly the will to live -- play a powerful role in healing."