Where’s the Placebo Button?

I've never understood why the placebo effect gets a bad rap. The placebo effect is the beneficial change in a person's experience after receiving a fake treatment. It is assumed to be due to the belief or expectation that the treatment will help.

A treatment, whether a drug, surgery, supplement, or any therapy, is considered successful if it can outperform the placebo effect and is statistically significant.

If the treatment can't accomplish this, it's dismissed. However, we must recognize that any treatment has two perspectives.

Official circles, such as doctors, the government, or companies, need proof to use the treatment. They want something they can sell or recommend.

Then there's what we, the receivers of the treatment, need.

We don't care about proof. We only want to feel better, and we don't care how. If the treatment legitimately causes the improvement, or our sense of belief was so strong that we feel better, we're happy.

I've always said, "Show me where the placebo button is in my brain." I'll push it and save both time and money.

Tell me how I can make the placebo effect occur on demand.

A recent Medscape article highlights the problem.

"Osteoarthritis Has a Placebo Problem, and It's Challenging Both Research and Clinical Practice"

Two decades ago, a trial showed no clinical benefit from knee arthroscopy compared to sham surgery, meaning the surgical intervention was no better than the placebo effect.

Please think about this for a moment. This trial showed that pretending some had surgery had the same results as actually having the surgery.

This is of great interest to me, as someone who has an arthritic knee and does not want surgery.

In a 2016 study, individuals with chronic low back pain were informed they were receiving a placebo, yet experienced moderate to significant pain reductions—greater than a group receiving no additional treatment.

One participant was so impressed with the outcome that he asked where he could buy placebos.

Here's the dilemma: It's challenging to show that some treatments work better than a placebo, which makes it difficult to get new ones approved.

This puts doctors in a tricky spot. They may use safe options like supplements or gentle therapies that seem to help, even if it's partly due to belief. But more serious treatments like surgery or injections should be used carefully since they come with risks and might not actually work any better than a placebo.

Placebo responders are people who experience tangible improvements in their symptoms after receiving a treatment with no active ingredient—like a sugar pill or fake procedure—simply because they believe it will help. Their bodies may release natural painkillers, reduce stress, or change how the brain processes symptoms, all in response to the expectation of healing.

Researchers estimate that about half of the people in osteoarthritis studies may be placebo responders, making it harder to tell whether a treatment is truly effective or if the benefit came from the person's response to the idea of being treated.

Health is shaped not only by physical factors but also by mental, emotional, and social influences. People's beliefs about whether something will help strongly affect their choices and outcomes. The placebo effect demonstrates how positive expectations can create fundamental physiological changes.

The reverse is also true.

The Nocebo effect shows how negative expectations can worsen symptoms. This does not just apply to beliefs about physical function.

Perception, emotions, and beliefs can limit or aid healing. Positive states tend to reduce limitations, while negative beliefs about being "stuck" in illness may increase stress hormones and negatively impact health.

Since many core beliefs are subconscious, lasting change often begins with small, manageable actions that help people experience something new and shift their perspective.

This means we need to ask ourselves if we believe change is possible, and learn to reframe limiting thoughts, which can help open the door to progress.

Social relationships also play a critical role in health. Supportive connections improve survival and recovery, while toxic or absent ones can be harmful. Research in sociogenomics shows that social interactions influence gene expression, brain function, and emotional well-being. Recognizing the quality of our relationships and developing supportive connections can have a meaningful effect on healing.

If you're having health issues and you lack social support, I know that reading this is not going to be helpful. But don't let this make you feel worse. There are other things to try to turn your beliefs in a more positive direction.

If we want to reap the benefits of belief, we need to be aware of its power and ensure that we are focusing our beliefs in a positive way.

I love the concept of belief and its potential, but I'm also afraid. We never truly know what messaging our subconscious beliefs are sending to our bodies or how they are affecting the choices we make for ourselves.

Are there techniques that can influence the subconscious? Yes. Techniques such as EFT, hypnotherapy, EMDR, NLP, affirmations, visualization, and body-based therapies engage the subconscious to re-pattern beliefs, emotions, and behaviors, with varying scientific support.

However, for any of these techniques to work, we would have to believe that they may help.

That's why I would prefer the placebo button. It wouldn't require my belief system to be involved, or maybe the button turns on the belief system. Whatever the case, it would work, and I would not have to work hard to make it so.

PS: If you're wondering if there's a gut connection to our sense of beliefs, there appears to be one. Early research suggests that gut microbes can influence subconscious emotional patterns, which may shape how we perceive, interpret, and form beliefs. Although the research is new and not fully understood, it gives us more reason to focus on truly understanding microbes.