Garret

I Know You Heard of Placebo but They Got it All Wrong!

Lets start with research, facts and proof not idle rambling.

Researchers at the University of Michigan, published in the Journal of Neuroscience in August 2005:

Lead researcher Jon-Kar Zubieta said: Endorphins (the bodys opiates), are released in pain-related areas of the brain when we expect drugs to relieve our pain.

The operative word is expect because the emotion of positive-expectation causes physical changes in mind-and-body.

Some might argue that expecting is a cognitive (thinking) behavior, not an emotional one. Maybe its both, but PET(Positron Emission Tomography) scans, produce proof-positive that a placebo Latin for I shall please, changes the brain. Its as real as a New Orleans Heart Attack after seeing your home and source of livelihood destroyed.

A placebo demonstration is required by the U.S. government to test the effectiveness of new drugs proposed to the Federal Drug Administration. Manufactures must prove their new drug produces more cures than a phony-baloney with no active ingredients say a saline-solution injection with no drugs in it.

The Placebo can account for a minimum of thirty (30%) of all cures.

Does that mean we cure ourselves?

You have heard the expression the placebo-effect its in the dictionary and reads a sense of benefit felt by a patient that arises solely from the knowledge that treatment has been given. A sugar pill instead of an antibiotic fits the bill.

The Experts Discounted The Placebo as Unscientific

Imagine the surprise of scientists when they saw brain scans with modifications of brain structures from patients who were give placebos - and not real drugs. The experiment involved the injection into the jaws of the volunteers (a harmless procedure), of either a legitimate pain-killer or the powerless placebo.

You dont have to remember its called the mu opioid receptors of the brain, it means that the brain produces its own pain-killers strangely similar to opium, and is received and used to reduce or eliminate pain by the mind-and-body. Mu - is the twelfth-letter of the Greek alphabet.

When the patients were told they would receive painkillers just the mental expectation without the active drug ingredients as part of the experiment their brains began to release Endorphins a natural copycat of manufactured morphine. And what happened? Right the placebo caused the pain to vanish as if the volunteers had received the active drugs.

Its All in The Mind?

Do we all have the same level of expectation about life health success?

How do you even measure a mental construct like expectation?

Heres what the University of Michigan scientists concluded:

the power of the placebo was in-sync with the degree of each patients level of belief in the power of the alleged drug.

Huh? The stronger your belief in the effectiveness of the injection, pill or even surgery they better your results.

The better relationship you have with the doctor trust her/him the better odds you recover and live - verses

Most of us laughed at the Power-of-Positive-Thinking and considered ourselves intelligent because we didnt fool ourselves. Does saying-so make-it-so?

The words we use habitually are cues to how our brain thinks about success and failure. The Placebo-Effect proves that how we talk, and what we expect and trust to happen has a demonstrable cause-and-effect response on how our brain works.

Nocebo Means I Will Harm You!

From Latin we get placebo, and its sister-state - nocebo, which indicates that expectations of rejection, failure, and loss are the basis of self-sabotage.

The negative words, gestures and facial expressions we use cause our brain to lead us down the path to destruction. Is it all in your head, and persistence-and- determination dont count? Life is action not thinking about doing. Its not who you are deep inside it is what you do. Our brain is affected by the words we use, and by non-verbal body-language that reveals how we feel about things, people and situations. Success is all about thinking, feeling and doing.

Heres an analogy - the brain is our hardware, while our mind is the software and sets the goals. What we must remember is that our brain is listening to our words, and awaiting its marching-orders, just as your fingers on the computer point-and-click your commands. How you expect-to-be-treated causes people to modify their behaviors. What results you expect to obtain affects the amount of effort your mind-and-body produce. Give-it-a-thought and implement a success-orientation.

Endwords

It is time to change our attitude about the power of expectation, and how our mind affects our body. Your thinking (words and pictures), and body-language work in tandem to produce the results we get.

Produce a Duchenne-Smile on your face three-times daily and you feel better and produce better results.

Now we know for the first time that it is not just fooling-yourself, but enlisting the help of your mind to affect meaningful and significant changes in your body.

Want to produce better results in your life?

Be aware of the specific words you use about yourself and your activities cursing is a nocebo, and positive expectations and directed-effort - is your placebo.

See ya,

copyright 2005 H. Bernard Wechsler www.speedlearning.org hbw@speedlearning.org -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author of #1 book on Speed Learning, published by Barron's Educational, partner of Evelyn Wood, creator of speed reading, graduating 2 million, including the White House staffs of four U.S. Presidents. http://www.speedlearning.org hbw@speedlearning.org