I don't find the effect itself very astonishing, really, since everything always depends on the view, background, understanding, and preconceptions of the observer or experiencer.
But it really fascinates me how the conscious mind can create unconscious changes. You don't know when an effect is pure placebo. If you did, the effect would seize to exist, and then there would be nothing to know of. If that makes any sense?
It's a concept which only exists when you are unaware of it. Brilliant!
How does the mind do this? And I wonder if animals with less developed brains can enjoy the benefits of this marvel... And how much can be regulated or corrected via this implementation?
And since it's only effective when we don't know of it, we cannot really start exploiting it - because then we would become aware of it. A world where placebo medicine was distributed would make us all skeptic and immune to it.
So... All we can do is appreciate its actuality, unaware if we benefit from it or not.
I think that Placebo effect is just a thing that helps release our minds from the inhibiting barriers. We usually can do unimaginable things, we have wonderful skills or an aptitude to self-treatment but different kinds of inhibitions restrain us from succeeding at these things. Maybe sometimes we're too insecure with ourselves that we prefer to rely on something else?
ReplyDeleteGood point! It's probably less frightening to leave it up to something else... Less responibility.
ReplyDeleteThat's very true.