Some people argue that virtually all of “medicine” is, in fact, nothing but a “placebo effect” whereby we heal because we believe we will heal–or even die because we believe we will die.
The following video offers some unsettling evidence that these arguments may be true. There’s even evidence that the the placebo effect is not only found in pills, but even in surgery. I.e., in some instances, when a doctor performs a “fake” surgery, the patient is as likely to improve as if a real surgery had been performed.
This video doesn’t discuss the issue of vitamin supplements, but I’m left to wonder about the extent that vitamins offer “real” healing and the extent that vitamins supplements heal as placebos.
Whether my health is improved by a “real,” chemical-cause-and-effect medicine (or vitamins) or by a placebo effect is irrelevant, so long as my health improves. Of course, the idea that we might heal based on our beliefs isn’t new. Still, the fact that there many be evidence I we heal based in large part on our state of mind is . . . interesting . . . even, surprising.
video 00:52.38