Welcome to day 12 of my experiment: Going through the Valley of Despair.
Everything we do is supported by something invisible: an internal conviction – whether it works in our favor or against us.
These internal convictions can either serve us or undermine us. When they contribute to our health and well-being, we tend to call them placebo. When they work against us, negatively affecting the body, they are known as nocebo.
The effects of placebo and nocebo are neither symbolic nor imaginary. They are real, measurable, and widely documented in medicine. This means that what we believe – consciously or unconsciously – has the power to shape concrete outcomes in our physical health.
Examples of placebo and nocebo are numerous. There are two that particularly fascinate me.
One example of the nocebo effect is psychological pregnancy: when a woman’s body displays the signs and symptoms of pregnancy despite the absence of a fetus. This is not a matter of “imagination,” but a physiological response triggered by intense psychological stress – namely, a powerful expectation and a deep desire to conceive.
A compelling example of the placebo effect comes from the work of physician Henry Knowles Beecher during World War II. In situations where morphine was scarce, he administered saline solution to severely wounded soldiers, telling them it was a powerful painkiller. Around 40% reported significant relief from pain.
Therefore, if our bodies are capable of responding to what we believe, symptoms become clues to the convictions we sustain.
Till tomorrow,
