Placebo Effect

WebMD defines a placebo as “anything that seems to be a “real” medical treatment, but isn’t.” In 2017, we have plenty of medicines, technology, and cures to a variety of diseases. But what happens when there isn’t a cure? People are obsessed with the idea of medicine being the only cure, when in fact, some viruses, diseases, and problems don’t have a specific cure. This is where the placebo effect comes into place. Though we have these technological advances and medications, not everything has a cure. The placebo effect has an important and active role in modern medicine. Placebos are commonly misunderstood, and are pervasively perceived as a problem. Much of what we have learned about the placebo effect has been done so through lab experiments
According to Kaptchuck and Miller, placebos rely on “neurobiological mechanisms” involving endorphins, cannabinoids, and dopamine in relevant areas of the brain like the prefrontal cortex, anterior insula, and amygdala (Placebo Effects in Medicine, 2015). Placebos create a mind-body connection. When a person thinks that the placebo will cure, they will most likely feel better or experience fewer side effects. The same goes for pain. If a person is expecting something to hurt a lot, the chances of the pain being greater increases. Because placebos are focused on the relationship between the mind and the body, placebos don’t directly affect the illness (Placebo Effect,
Occasionally, the placebo effect causes adverse consequences, leading to the effects of nocebos. Patients often perceive these to be side effects of medicine, when they are actually caused by the anticipation of negative effects or the heightened attentiveness to normal discomforts in daily life. Nocebos may cause headaches, nervousness, nausea, or constipation. Nocebos are most known for being a substance in the body that sends mixed messages through the nerves. If a person expects pain to be more intense, the amount of pain is more likely to be greater than if they weren’t to have expected a great deal of pain (Placebo Effect, 2017). This causes an element of psychological conditioning. Once someone benefits from the placebo, without knowing that it is a placebo, they start to associate the procedure with the benefits. The same goes vise versa. The nocebo effect is most relevant when a treatment’s success or failure depends on the experiences of patients (Putting The Placebo Effect To Work, 2012). The placebo and nocebo effects together create expectation effects. The person taking the placebo typically experiences what they expect to happen. Placebos and nocebos don’t directly cause any effects. These effects are caused by the person taking the medicine’s belief that the placebo helps change the symptoms, or changes the way that the symptoms are perceived. Another related effect caused by