JB writes: “So many of my friends have abandoned modern medicine and say the placebo effect proves alternatives like positive thinking work because they tend to be more in line with the body’s natural ability to heal itself. Is this true, or is it just New Age spin?”It isn’t spin as much as it’s a blurring of the line between the physical and the metaphysical. Let me explain.
The placebo effect occurs when a person experiences symptom relief after receiving a fake treatment for a condition. For reasons now known to science, the brain is capable of convincing the body that a fake treatment is real, thus stimulating relief. But unlike the New Age belief that this relief is due to the effects of positive thinking (or by some other metaphysical means), the placebo effect activates genuine physical mechanisms in the body that can bring about symptom relief.
As this article, written by Howard LeWine, MD, and appearing in Harvard Health, explains, “How placebos work is still not quite understood, but it involves a complex neurobiological reaction that includes everything from increases in feel-good neurotransmitters, like endorphins and dopamine, to greater activity in certain brain regions linked to moods, emotional reactions, and self-awareness. All of it can have therapeutic benefit. The placebo effect is a way for your brain to tell the body what it needs to feel better.”
These findings have been confirmed by studies using brain imagining, hormone analysis and immune markers which found that placebo responses trigger real biological changes in the body including measurable changes in brain activity in pain, emotion and motor circuits, release of natural painkillers (endorphins), changes in dopamine, altered stress hormones such as cortisol and modulation of immune and inflammatory signaling.
One of the key reasons why placebo can trigger these physical responses is found in the patient’s expectations. Seeing a doctor, going through the ritual of testing, pills, and other procedures, triggers what is known as predictive processing in the brain. The brain is constantly forecasting what should happen next and preparing the body accordingly. There’s nothing mystical about it. When a patient sees a doctor and swallows a medication, he expects to be healed or at least relieved, and the brain responds accordingly by activating these bodily systems.
In other words, the placebo effect is not about a pain or illness being “all in your mind,” it’s about “creating a stronger connection between the brain and body and how they work together,” Dr. LeWine explains.
He goes on to say that even in cases where migraine patients were told that they were receiving a placebo, meaning a sugar pill and not real medicine, they still experienced reduced pain.
“The researchers speculated that a driving force beyond this reaction was the simple act of taking a pill. People associate the ritual of taking medicine as a positive healing effect. Even if they know it's not medicine, the action itself can stimulate the brain into thinking the body is being healed.”
However, what the placebo cannot do is actually heal. It cannot kill bacteria or viruses, shrink tumors, mend broken bones, reverse genetic disease or repair destroyed tissue.
It can be effective in managing symptoms that are perception-based or “brain mediated” such as pain, anxiety, fatigue, nausea, and irritable bowel symptoms. Research has found that placebo responses can be as strong as active drugs, and even stronger at times, which is why people will believe with all sincerity that they have been healed. But what really happened is their experience of symptoms improved, but the underlying cause remains.
Many New Agers incorrectly attribute these natural healing responses to metaphysical forces such as energy alignment, vibration frequency, a universal life force, or quantum consciousness. All of these forces, which are unmeasurable and undefined, are said to bypass known physiology.
Examples include visualization and “mental reprogramming” which asserts that illness is caused by erroneous beliefs buried in the subconscious and by changing these mental images one can change the body, even repair it down to the cellular level.
Affirmation and positive thinking practices popularized by many self-help gurus are based on the belief that negative thoughts make the body sick and positive thoughts restore health. In certain religious cults, such as Christian Science, adherents believe illness is nothing more than an illusion caused by a faulty belief system and employ prayer in order to replace bad thoughts with good ones. In other words, they “treat” patients by employing mind-control tactics to convince them that sickness is not real. These “consultations” can take place in person, by telephone, or even by mail.
The Law of Attraction and manifestation practices are based on the idea that thoughts and emotions attract health or illness through vibrational resonance. If one raises their vibration by avoiding negative thoughts and visualizing desired outcomes they can be healed.
Sound frequency and vibration healing is another very popular New Age concept which posits that specific frequencies produced by singing bowls, tuning forks, Solfeggio frequencies, and binaural beats canf restore the body’s natural resonance.
Crystal healing, which is based on the idea that crystals emit vibrational energies that can heal the body, relies on treatments ranging from wearing crystal jewelry to having the stones placed strategically on the body.
These New Age healing modalities are usually presented with very scientific-sounding language and use compelling testimonies to draw patients. Practitioners are often very caring and attentive to patients. This makes the patient feel better which triggers responses from the brain as described above, which in turn reduces stress and anxiety, both of which are major factors determining the severity of symptoms. As a result, the patient believes the treatment worked due to some mystical intervention when it was due to the body’s normal biological function.
In conclusion, the New Age belief that the body can heal itself by unproven means such as energy balancing, vibrations, etc. is because they mistakenly attribute placebo effects to mystical means. However, it’s important to note that neither placebo effect nor the various New Age self-healing techniques are capable of healing the body of disease, only in relieving symptoms.
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