The Placebo Effect – The Power Within to Heal

Derren Brown recently did a programme on the placebo effect. It showed just how powerful our beliefs are to heal us and help us get over our problems. It also gives an indication of the mechanisms by which hypnotherapy can be effect changes that have dramatic effects.

The placebo effect is where an inactive substance improves a patient’s condition, based solely on the patient’s belief that it will be beneficial. And these are not just perceived benefits, but measured, physical effects; and the greater the belief, the greater the effect. This process is well known by drug companies, and also a real bugbear to them, as they have to try and separate out the healing effect of belief, from the benefits of the drug alone! Sometimes drugs can be deemed fit for market with only marginally more positive benefits than found by the placebo effect alone.

This power of the mind to effect the body is what hypnotherapy relies on when dealing with medical conditions. Hypnotherapy bypasses the taking of medications to gain these positive mental effects, and goes straight for physiological effect directly from our guided thoughts.

The processes that occur during the placebo effect within the brain have a particularly strong effect on physical aspects such as pain, fatigue, fever and the immune system, so called ‘top down’ processes that are influenced initially by the brain. The placebo effect also occurs with ‘peripheral’ conditions such as asthma, bronchitis and hypertension, and less with more core ‘physical’ conditions.

One of the first organs to develop in an embryo, following the nervous system, is the skin. For this reason the two are very closely tied, and skin conditions can often also be well treated with hypnotherapy, as providing calming and soothing at a psychological can often do the same for the skin.

How well hypnotherapy works, and the strength of placebo effect are both influenced by similar factors: the level of belief and trust in the practitioner offering the patient the treatment is one of them, and the motivation of patients in treatment is also important, which is why children must want to come to sessions for themselves, not just the please their parents.

Equally the manner of the person offering treatment also has an influence: comforting words and the expression of more certainty in a positive outcome correlates with better results. Stating there is some doubt as to the outcome can result in a weakening of the effect.

As such the expectation, or belief, that something, or someone will help us positively influences the outcomes of hypnotherapy and the strength of the placebo effect. Children are often more open and trusting to new ideas and suggestions, which helps in this regard. With both the placebo effect and hypnotherapy, the ability to imagine the positive effects is important, and this is where children also have the upper hand, since they are so used to using their imaginations, both in play and in day to day life.

However, both children and adults can harness the powerful healing potential demonstrated by the placebo effect, and in this way to take back a level of control of their own road to recovery from illnesses. There are a wealth of visualisations and guided hypnotherapeutic sessions for particular conditions which can be used, both with the therapist, and in the patient’s own time to aid and speed their own healing, often alongside more conventional treatments.

This not only helps with recovery, but puts healing back in the hands of the patients themselves which benefits them physically, but also psychologically and emotionally. In terms of getting over phobias, if fear can be overcome, the quote from George Addair stands true: “Everything you ever wanted is on the other side of fear”.

Here is a short video about the placebo effect. The key phrase here is: “You have a condition that we know is responsive to placebos, that means that you have within you, within your mind, the ability to affect this condition. (These just) help you to unleash that natural ability.“