Santelli Healing Center
  • HOME
  • LOCAL EVENTS
  • SERVICES
  • MY METHODS
  • Articles
  • ABOUT DR. SANTELLI
  • CONTACT ME

Sticks and Stones.....

9/1/2019

 
“…will break my bones, but names will never harm me!” (an English children’s rhyme)

Wrong! Words and expectations do matter and can actually harm us!
​
The strange truth about medicine and the brain is that they often interact in completely unpredictable and counterintuitive ways. Nowhere is this truer than with the bewildering phenomenon known as the nocebo effect.
 
‘The Placebo Effect’ is the healing patients experience in clinical trials when they believe they’re getting a fancy new drug; but are actually getting a fake treatment. The Placebo Effect is real,  it’s not just in your head – it actually dilates bronchi, heals ulcers, makes warts disappear, drops your blood pressure, and even helps bald men who think they’re getting Rogaine grow hair!
 
There is new research on the opposite of the Placebo Effect, known as the Nocebo Effect, in which negative expectations produce bad results. In drug trials, patients who are given dummy pills can have either positive or negative outcomes despite the fact that they were given a fake drug.
 
The Nocebo Effect has been called the lesser-known “evil twin” of the Placebo Effect. Think of it  this way: just as the Placebo Effect creates a positive reaction or healing from an inert or sham treatment, the Nocebo Effect is the negative or harmful reaction from a harmless treatment.
 
When treated with nothing more than placebos, clients often report fatigue, vomiting, muscle weakness, colds, ringing in the ears, taste disturbances, memory disturbances, and other symptoms that should not result from a sugar pill. Most of the time, they experience these symptoms because they were told to expect these side effects.

What Causes the Nocebo Effect?

The Nocebo effect can be caused by verbal suggestions, expectations, and past experience. An article in the British Medical Journal illustrates this reaction: Researchers compared two different placebos for arm pain. The first treatment group received a sugar pill and the second group received sham acupuncture with retractable needles. Overall, the group that received the sham acupuncture reported less pain…the Placebo Effect in action.
 
More interesting: both groups reported side effects from their placebo treatment.  A few patients from the group that received the pills reported that they were so sluggish that they couldn’t get out of bed while the group that received the sham acupuncture reported swelling, redness, and extreme pain. These side effects were exactly what the patients were told they might experience!
 
A New York Times article about the Nocebo Effect stated: “the Placebo Effect, which is based on a person's positive expectation, has been widely studied. Its opposite, the Nocebo Effect, has not. But, clearly a negative expectation can be powerful. Subjects who volunteer for drug trials sometimes drop out because the side effects of the new drug are too severe. This is true even when the side effects are being induced by a sugar pill and not a real drug.”

Another example was a study on lactose intolerance that involved a group of subjects who complained of intestinal problems caused by lactose, the sugar found in milk. Some of these people had been diagnosed with lactose intolerance; others only suspected that they had it. When they were given a fake lactose by the experimenters, "44 percent with known lactose intolerance and 26 percent of those without lactose intolerance complained of gastrointestinal symptoms" - and yet all had actually been given glucose, which does not harm the intestinal tract.

It is important to remember that, despite the fact that there is no "real" drug involved, the actual harmful, undesirable, emotional consequences of the fake drug are very real.

Unwanted Side Effects

​The Nocebo Effect complaints aren’t random. Sometimes they are in response to the side effects warnings caused by the actual drug or treatment. The mere suggestion that a patient may experience negative symptoms in response to a medication (or a sugar pill) may be a self-fulfilling prophecy. For example, if you tell a patient treated with a placebo, he might experience nausea, he’s likely to feel nauseous. If you suggest that he might get a headache, he may. Patients given nothing but saline, who thought it was chemotherapy, actually threw up 

Can Words Harm?

One experiment showed the more frequently the words “sting,” “burn,” “hurt,” “bad” and “pain”, were said, the more discomfort was felt by patients. This research suggests that doctors should consider the Nocebo Effect when dealing with pain to avoid magnifying side effects.

Of course, trying to avoid this sort of scenario puts a doctor in a dilemma—limiting the patient’s discomfort could be at odds with keeping them informed about the procedure. To navigate this tension, the study’s authors advise doctors to emphasize positives (re-framing warnings into phrases such as “the majority of patients tolerate this well”) and, in some cases, actually getting permission from patients to keep them in the dark about certain mild side effects.

Addressing how to manage patients’ fears and anxieties can be just as important as fighting the real disease. A surprising conclusion you might come to after learning about the Nocebo Effect is: What you don’t know can’t hurt you.

Every time a doctor tells a patient that you have an “incurable” illness or that you’ll be on medication for the rest of your life or that you have a 5% five-year survival expectation, they’re essentially creating a ‘nocebo effect’. These predictions can be self-fulfilling.
​
The question arises: “Does the ‘Nocebo Effect’ occur in our everyday relationships?”
 
How we perceive an event significantly impacts our experience of it. In our everyday lives, it is important that we communicate and interact with others positively, so that people walk away feeling empowered with no fear or apprehension.
 
How information is exchanged between couples, friends or colleagues — whether with warmth or with negativity — clearly affects outcomes of how you feel when you walk away from the experience. If interactions with friends and loved ones are always pessimistic, it would lead to more negative outcomes for us and them.
 
Therefore, yes, the “Nocebo Effect” can occur outside clinical trials!
 
Keeping this in mind shows how we communicate information is just as important as the content of the information. We may create more positive outcomes in our day to day relationships. We know that people who are more positive tend to live longer, healthier lives.
 
When we read clinical research studies about how optimism and low stress is common among populations who live longer, it further reinforces the idea that a positive attitude — whether it’s communicated or only in our thoughts — generally leads to positive outcomes in health and relationships.
 
An article in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) suggests, “the ‘Nocebo Effect’ should be taken into consideration in clinical situations. But, as most clinical studies that support optimism as a way to a healthier life suggest, we could all take the concept of ‘Nocebo Effect’ into everyday life and envelop ourselves and others with a positive perspective. This way, maybe we can all see more positive outcomes… not just in clinical environments, but throughout all aspects of our lives as well.”
 
Yes, words can sometimes be more harmful than “Sticks and Stones”!
 
 
​
References:
https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/the-nocebo-effect-can-our-thoughts-kill-us-20150303-13tdjl.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/julie-chen-md/nocebo-effect_b_1277841.html
https://www.deepakchopra.com/blog/article/3973
https://www.deepakchopra.com/blog/article/3988
https://www.deepakchopra.com/blog/article/4036
https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/nocebo.htm
https://www.students4bestevidence.net/the-nocebo-effect/
https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/The_nocebo_response

Comments are closed.

    DR. FELICIA'S WRITINGS

    Picture
    Dr. Felicia Santelli
    Transformational Energy Healing

    Published Magazine Articles:

    ​ 2019:
    Jan 2019 Resolutions, Thoughts for 2019
    Feb 2019 J'Dore L'Amour
    Mar 2019 Mirror, Mirror, On The Wall
    Apr 2019 It's Your Attitude, Stupid
    May 2019 What's In  Your Garden?
    Jun 2019 Is Your Mind A Train Wreck?
    Jul 2019 Are You Listening?
    Aug 2019 You Are Your Own Medicine
    Sep 2019 Sticks and Stones
    Oct 2019 Take Off Your Mask
    Nov 2019 Thank Me!
    Dec 2019 The Only Gift
    2018:
    Jan. 2018 Wisdom From the Masters  Down Through the Ages
    Feb. 2018 Qi Gong: Managing The Flow of Qi or Life Energy
    Mar. 2018 Like Your Car, Your Body Needs Periodic Tune-Ups
    Apr. 2018 ​Which Organ of the Body is the MVP?
    May. 2018 Aging Begins In The Colon
    Jun. 2018 The Wave
    Jul. 2018 The King is Dead
    Aug. 2018 The Battle to Control the Immune System
    ​Sep. 2018 Two Brains? Really!
    Oct. 2018 You Are Not Sick! You're Thirsty!!
    Nov. 2018 Is Mozart Good For Your Health?
    Dec. 2018 The Only Gift That Really Matters

    2017:
    ​
    Jan. 2017 Stress, Part 1 
    Feb. 2017 Stress, Part 2 
    Mar. 2017 Stress, Part 3: Real or Self-Inflicted 
    Apr. 2017 Stress, Part 4: How Are You Stressed 
    May 2017 Stress, Part 5: Stress On Steroids (Trauma) 
    June 2017 Neuro-Emotional Technique (NET) 
    July 2017 Your Mind is the Source of Your Illness
    Aug. 2017 National Relaxation Day - Aug 15!!
    ​Sep. 2017 The Stress Buster You Haven't Tried
    Oct. 2017 Mindfulness
    Nov. 2017 How Should We Experience Thanksgiving?
    Dec. 2017  The 12 Gifts of Christmas

    2016:
    May 2016 How Emotions Affect The Immune System 
    Jun. 2016 Chemistry of Emotions 
    Sep.  2016 The Emotion-Disease Connection - 
    Oct. 2016  Your Inner Voice 
    Nov. 2016 Being Thankful Is Good For You
    Dec. 2016 12 Gifts of Christmas 

    Categories:

    All
    Adrenals
    Allergies
    Breathing
    Cause Of Allergies
    Chi
    Disease
    Emotional Stress
    Emotions
    Fight Or Flight
    Fight-or-flight
    Gratitude
    Illness
    Immune System
    Kinesiology
    Mind
    Muscle Response Testing
    NAET
    Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Technique
    Nervous System
    NET Neuro Emotional Technique
    Physical Stress
    PTSD
    Relaxation
    Spiritual Stress
    Stress
    Symptoms Of Allergies
    Thoughts
    Trauma
    Water

    All Articles:

    Allergies: Emotions Affect Allergies

    Allergies: Symptoms of Allergies

    Allergies: The Hidden Cause for Many Illnesses

    Allergies: What Is An Allergy

    Being Thankful Is Good For You

    Chemistry of Emotions
    ​
    Emotional Reality Can Affect Your Health
    ​

    Emotions and Physical Health

    How Emotions Affect the Immune System

    Kinesiology - Muscle Response Testing

    Muscle Response Testing (MRT) - Kinesiology

    NAET: What Is It?

    NAET: How It Works

    Stress and the Holidays

    The Surprising Relationship Between Water, Your Thoughts, and Your Health

    The 12 Gifts of Christmas

    Water: Vital Fuel for Body's Engine

    What Is Alternative Medicine?

    What Is Stress?

    Archives

    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    July 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014

    RSS Feed

SANTELLI  HEALING CENTER  
Cottonwood Square
7960 Niwot Road, #C10
Niwot, CO 80503
HOME 
LOCAL EVENTS 
ABOUT DR. SANTELLI   
MY METHODS
SERVICES 
CONTACT ME
BLOG
All content ©2016 Dr. Felicia Santelli unless otherwise noted.