The Nocebo and Placebo Effects

Doctors and patients are often surprised when spontaneous healing occurs and no medical intervention was used.

Individuals study these effects and try to figure out how they work in order to figure out techniques to master them.

The brain is responsible for directing many functions of the body. Perhaps one of the most interesting is how the powerful subconscious mind can bring about spontaneous healing or illness, depending on what it believes.

Whether they happen coincidentally or as hoped, most of us have heard stories of miraculous healing. We've also heard about people who were literally scared to death by voodoo spells.

To create an illness or a healing, it appears that the subconscious mind has to hold the belief first. It then directs the 'orders' to the DNA and the cells of the body. (wiki image license)

The Nocebo Effect

Your subconscious is still pleasing you by creating reality from your beliefs, but not in ways we consciously desire.

If you believe a medication will have side effects, it probably will. If you believe certain foods are bad for you, this makes it so.

This negative explains why people faithfully develop the family illness even when adopted with no blood ties. It explains why people die on schedule when a trusted doctor pronounces that they have just three months to live.

The power of suggestion is just as strong, maybe stronger, with the negative as the positive. Emotions combined with beliefs create a synergy that causes the subconscious to act. Fear is a very powerful emotion that throws the body into stress.

A few random negative thoughts aren't going to convince your subconscious to act, but deeply held beliefs and repetitive negative thinking patterns just might.

Continue reading about the placebo effect.

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