We’ve heard of the placebo effect, where you take a pill you believe will be good for you, and it produces positive results. The placebo research states if we expect a pill to be effective at treating a disease, by our expectations, our symptoms will improve. Therefore, after ingesting a placebo pill, the outcome is depended predominantly on our focus and expectation.
Wouldn’t the opposite happen if we were focused on a medicine harming the body? Meaning if our thoughts were focused on the medicine causing adverse effects, would it create more harm to the body? Denying this statement would be saying that our thoughts have no power over our physiology, which completely undermine the placebo effect research. So if that’s the case, and our thoughts have power, why not focus on the medicine doing what’s it’s supposed to do, minus the adverse effects?
The placebo effect has been on tv, in books and in articles, and the research on the placebo effect discovered it’s primarily our thoughts that are creating the outcome of a medicine. If expectation brings about an outcome, and if we’re constantly worried about something we’re ingesting, what are we projecting? We expect our concerns and fears and therefore we bring about our concerns and fears.
I do agree that medication has side effects, but if our thoughts can create healing through a placebo pill, why wouldn’t it be able to do the reverse if we’re constantly worried about what we’re consuming?
If the media is always reinforcing the concept that medication is harmful to the body, and if we believe this concept, what are we projecting again? All you have to do is type in medication on YouTube or google, and you get as much negative feedback about medication as benefits.
I believe we should be informed but there’s such a thing as too much information, and our physiology as individuals don’t all work the same with treatment. Why does one person feel benefit from a medicine, yet another feels only side effects with the same medication? Body chemistry plays a role, however, considering all the research that’s been done on the placebo effect, we have to admit our beliefs and expectations are crucial in determining our physiology according to treatment.
The problem lies in people’s perception of medication, and we’re so immersed in this world of side effects and reactions that we forget about the many more benefits. From an individual perspective, there’s so many benefits and effects from what we consume, so why are we trying to figure out the one right way for everyone?
It’s quite evident that medication can have adverse effects for some people, but if someone was allergic to peanuts, would you tell everyone to not eat peanuts? Would you say there are no benefits to peanuts considering all the research that’s been done on its potential health benefits?
We need to accept everyone’s beliefs, and we shouldn’t expect everyone to follow our way and only our way. There’s nothing wrong with sharing our opinion on the matter, but there’s too much diversity in the world to think there’s only one approach to healing. We should appreciate all the resources and technology that we so take for granted.
And next time you take a pill tell yourself it’s going to do what it’s designed to do minus the adverse effects, and don’t let anyone change your mind.