With the whole world looking to roll out a safe and effective vaccine, some people will be forgiven for wanting to check that they are being treated with the Real Thing.
After all, scientific and medical research is well aware of the Placebo Effect. This is the practice of giving half your patients a “sugar pill” without their knowledge and watching whether some of them just get well anyway.
I say “practice” because this is not some new world, twenty-first century option – it’s been going on for years and is based on people’s belief that they are on the way to improving; to getting better all on their own using the power of positive thought!
Few people know this but there is also a Nocebo Effect (look it up!)
This is the opposite of positive thought. The Nocebo Effect involves the patient being told what could go wrong; undesirable side effects, night sweats, headaches, loss of libido, the possibility of becoming addicted to the medication…
The posh academic word is agency; the belief that we are in control of our own fate. You can worry yourself sick. At Art of Brill we’re equally certain that you can also un-worry yourself well
Placebo or nocebo? Your fate is often determined by what’s going on in your head.
If you’re interested in changing the internal narrative, drop me a line.
Nige