Healing by Faith: Harnessing the Power of Placebo
We tend to believe that medications we get from our doctors, or those touted in T.V. commercials, have the desired effect on most people who take them. But that’s actually far from the truth.
In order to get a drug on the market in the U.S., the FDA requires only that the research show that the new drug is better than others currently on the market for treating the same condition, or if there is no comparable drug, that it beats out a placebo, or sugar pill. A drug that works 20% of the time may be considered effective, even though it did nothing for 80% of the people in a study, as long as it does better than its competition.
Often, drug companies have to do many trials before they get the positive results they need. And often it’s the more positive results that get published. Sometimes, as in the case of Crestor, a drug maker stops a trial early, while the statistics still have a positive skew, fearing that if the trial is longer, they might see a less favorable overall picture of efficacy.
Why don’t all drugs work for all people? Every body is different and deals with drugs differently. It’s a matter of genetics, weight, kidney and liver function, etc. When a doctor prescribes a drug for you, he’s betting it will work in your case, but it’s never a sure thing.
Consider antidepressants. An analysis of their efficacy, published in 2002, found that in the majority of trials conducted by drug companies, sugar pills performed as well as, or better than prescription antidepressants. One trial comparing the herbal remedy, St. John’s Wort to the anti-depressant drug, Zoloft found that the herb cured 24% of the depressed people, Zoloft cured 25% and the sugar pill cured 32%! That demonstrates the power of the placebo effect, which means that if a person thinks they’re getting a drug that will cure them, many times it does. It doesn’t mean the drugs don’t work, but it does highlight another form of healing.
It’s not that people just think they’re better. In the case of antidepressants, they actually experience profound changes in the same areas of the brain affected by the drugs. It’s even been noted that more people get better on placebos during these trials than 20 years ago! Researchers think that may be because depression is less stigmatized and drugs for depression are advertised regularly on TV!
Dummy pills have long been used to help researchers weed out the real effect of a pill from the so-called imaginary effect felt by patients. There is also the “nocebo” effect. When patients are told at the end of a clinical trial that the pill they were taking was not a real medicine, their improvement quickly deteriorates! We don’t trust the power of our own beliefs and attitudes to affect real change, even when we’ve experienced it. But with new research techniques that show the physical effects of belief, maybe we’ll begin to have a different attitude towards the placebo effect and begin to tap its power even more effectively.
In his fascinating book, Timeless Healing: The Power and Biology of Belief, Herbert Benson, MD, discusses the power of placebo, how we underestimate it and how doctors tend to underutilize it. In America, he says, we expect heroic, “scientific” medicine, and we don’t have enough faith in the healing power of our bodies when given proper rest, relaxation and nutrition. Nor do we fully understand how our attitudes and beliefs contribute to our ability to heal.
In Benson’s view, medicine is approaching a crossroads where the power of belief and medicines will be integrated into a holistic system of care where patients are more than bodies, and treatments are more than pills and surgeries. He insists that research shows our bodies are wired for faith, and it’s time doctors incorporated that knowledge into their treatment plans
My husband likes me to fill his daily vitamin container once a week. But I try to remind him regularly of what each pill is and why he’s taking it, what its health benefits are, because I truly feel that it will have a more positive effect on his physiology if he understands and appreciates the nutrients he’s taking, rather than just washing a bunch of yellow and white pills down his throat.
The Anti-Aging Bottom Line: Empower your own healing by reading studies like the ones we write about every week. They help to strengthen your belief in the effectiveness of nutritional supplements by giving you hard evidence on which to anchor your beliefs. That stronger belief may truly enhance their power. It’s also important to select healing modalities that match your beliefs.
