TC <do-not-reply@i-do get-enough-spam-already-2498.com> wrote:
> Apart from this all: the strangest thing is the (scientifically proven) 
> effect of a placebo - it is strange that it actually works. If you just 
> really, truely and completey believe that a thing will work it can cure you: 
> be it homeopathy, accupuncture (here I see at least in some cases a physical 
> reason that might work - the needles blocking nerves >might< have effects - 
> though I am sceptical), faith healing, imbibing water at Lourdes or sleeping 
> below a pyramid.

  The placebo effect seldom *cures* any disease. What it does is to alleviate
symptoms within the limits of what the human body itself can do.

  This is especially so if the symptom is caused by the body itself. For
example, placebos can sometimes quite effective alleviating things like
astma attacks because an astma attack is, in fact, caused by the organism
itself as some kind of oversensitive protection mechanism. The placebo
effect can "convince" the body that there's no need for the "protection"
anymore, and thus the astma attack subsides. The same is true for many
other symptoms caused by a hypersensitive self-defense mechanism.

  Another effect that placebos can have is to induce the body to produce
endorphins and other similar stuff which alleviates pain. This can be
quite effective sometimes. It's curious how it works, but somehow it just
works: If the brain strongly believes that the pain will go away, then it
subconsciously *makes* it go away by secreting endorphins.

  Of course there are limits to what the body can do. A placebo cannot make
the body destroy a bacterial or virulent agent any faster than it would
normally do (if it's capable of doing it at all without the help of actual
medicine). A placebo cannot cure a genetic disease or disability, or cure
injuries any faster than normal. And so on.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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