Placebo effect - not self-hypnosis

On the effect of the placebo first began in the XVIII century, when German doctors cured tuberculosis patients using aspirin. Doctors have given him for his latest and highly efficient remedy. Since placebo were associated with self-suggestion. But recently scientists have presented evidence that the placebo effect from conscious suggestion does not.In one of the German clinics in the XVIII century with TB during the month was told that open, a sensational cure for their ills that heals better than any currently known drug. Doctors told them about it every day, in colors describing excellent chances for recovery. Medicine, they said, were to deliver in a month. And now, after 30 days of sick announced that miracle cure any moment arrives.Finally, "new drug" was brought to the clinic. The tablets were given, and all patients drank course wonder drug, which really gave a striking effect: 80 percent of the patients have recovered. That's just a little clarification - "the latest and perfect preparation" was in fact a regular aspirin, which has no impact on the course of such a serious disease, such as tuberculosis.This phenomenon, called the placebo effect, the doctors have formulated as follows: placebo (from Lat. Placebo - Get Well) - chemically inert material that does not have therapeutic properties, but has a marked therapeutic effect on the patient. The placebo effect, until recently, been associated with auto-suggestion like meditating. It was believed that human health is improved due to the fact that he believed in the efficacy of a drug or procedure is really neutral.From the Middle Ages were known terrible torture and even execution, during which the person does not cause any real damage. For example, prisoners were blindfolded and declared that now cut the throat (will cut a vein). Then the executioner held a sharp object at the specified location, and his team poured on the hands or throat poor warm water to that it seemed that he was bleeding. Unbelievable, but the impact of such people often die! And the picture is exactly reminiscent of the death of death from blood loss. This effect "malicious suggestion" later called nocebo effect.However, quite recently, scientists have found evidence of "unconsciousness" placebo and nocebo effects. A research team from Massachusetts General Hospital in conjunction with experts from Harvard Medical School showed that the placebo effect is based on the work of the unconscious brain. Their article "Unconscious activation of placebo and nocebo responses of the pain" (Nonconscious activation of placebo and nocebo pain responses) was recently published in the journal PNAS. The brain decides how will affect us or that medicine, even before the information about the drug to be understood by us, the researchers said.The clinical and laboratory practice to date has accumulated a lot of facts that cast doubt on the nature of conscious placebo and nocebo effects. Many of the cases suggests that they may occur without conscious processing of visual or verbal stimuli. Often the improvement or deterioration in the health of patients as if advancing automatically, without conscious acceptance of the idea that the drug or procedure must have some impact on them. In these situations, imaging showed that the visual and verbal stimuli processed by the brain of these people at a lower level in dosoznatelnom striatum (striatum), which is part of the evolutionarily more ancient bazalnyhyader hemispheres and in the subcortical amygdala. Experiments conducted by the authors study confirmed the hypothesis that the brain "decides" on the effects of a drug unconsciously - even before we carefully analyze the information about it.The experiments involved 40 healthy volunteers - 24 women and 16 men. The average age of the subjects was 23 years. In the first stage of the experiment each subject's arm attached heating element that generated the volunteers pain signals of varying intensity. Participants were asked to rate the intensity of their pain on a 100-point scale, while viewing the on-screen photos of people, some of which are depicted on the face of the weak and the other strong pain.The subjects did not know that the temperature of the heating element throughout the experiment remained unchanged. Despite the fact that the thermal effect on the skin was the same, the level of pain is strongly correlated with the images in the photographs, that is independent of associative suggestion caused a picture of "strong" or "weak" pain. Pain (remember, the reality is the same), the subjects were evaluated by an average of 19 points, when they saw a man who gives a slight pain on his face (the placebo effect), and by 53 points, when they saw a person who strongly distorted grimace of pain (nocebo effect).At the second stage of the experiment was repeated with the only change: photos of people experiencing the pain of varying intensity, the volunteers were shown for only 12 ms, that is, in the stroboscopic mode, does not allow to identify and, especially, to analyze the expression. Once again, scientists were able to observe a clear effect of placebo or nocebo, slightly weaker, but still pronounced. Participants who were unable to see any, nor to analyze the photo flashed on the screen, rated their pain at an average of 25 points when they face in the stroboscopic mode flickered picture of a man depicting a little pain and 44 points if they showed a distorted grimace strong pain face.It turns out that the mechanism of the placebo and nocebo effect, regardless of awareness guinea face causing it signals. "This is an automatic and more fundamental than belief and conscious expectation, the mechanism that regulates our reactions and behavior. Equally important, using this experimental model, combined with functional MRI mapping of the brain, we can further explore the placebo effect" - said one of the authors Kong Jian.In support of his conclusions - recently received information from the biologist Peter trimmer from the University of Bristol. According to the trimmer, something similar to the placebo effect is found in many animals. Here's who hardly accessible lecture on the benefits of the latest product and future recovery! However, in Siberian hamsters living in cells with a light styling winter and summer seasons, the immunity is much worse during the "short light days" and "long winter nights." But it is necessary to change the mode of illumination on the opposite, and the immunity of animals starts much harder.The mechanism of the placebo effect, the scientists could create a highly efficient and friendly new-generation drugs, the effect of which would be based not on direct intervention in the work of various systems of the body, and on the run defense scenarios at the brain level.