LET'S TALK ABOUT PLACEBO EFFECT!

What do you understand by Replacing? 

Yes, it is exchanging a thing with another one. Like we all do with the shopkeepers (or at least some of us). Don't we all buy something that was screaming at us, as soon as we step in front of it, to take it home; but later on we regret it? Waste of my money!  So, we go back to the same shop and exchange it to something else or the  same product with other features. This is called Replacement.

What i talked about in the above paragraph was very similar to what doctors do to certain assigned cases.
Placebo Effect,  is a phenomenon in which the placebo drug/ medicine  although inactive medically, tends to work just as functionally in patient's head. Confused?  Let me give you an example to make it easy. 
 Story about a child diagnosed with Leukemia  Stage 3, was referred to the best Children Cancer Hospital. The kid was only 10 years old, too young to know what really is going on. The methodology for treating Leukemia was going on very smoothly until one day Doctor realized through CT scans, that the cancer has reached at stage 4. The WBCs increased, the lymph nodes and liver became swollen. It was the last stage!  The doctors had no words to describe the situation to the young boy. Neither the child would be able to comprehend nor would he smile anymore. So, they tricked the kid into believing that the therapy are showing great results and chances of making through is very high, wherefore the kid became very enthusiastic about recovering fast. 
The doctors had no choice but replace the medication with fake ones. The therapy won't work anymore, the case was too distorted to handle. Everyone around the child knew, but the determination in his eyes always left them speechless. The 10-year old boy did not give up and although the drugs were fake, the willpower of his, created wonders. After another scanning, the kids' progress were crystal clear! STAGE 2.  HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? All doctors' did were lie, but the mental pillar in the child's head is what changed everything! 
The beneficial effect created by placebo drug due to child's belief in it is the perfect example for Placebo Effect.

This effect has been considered to be scientifically approved for around 40 years, but was first performed a long time ago by John Haygarth, in 1799.
Henry Beecher, a medic, discovered the Placebo effect  during World war II on the soldiers. The guy was playing cool about deceiving the soldiers, but he actually discovered something he didn't know. 
Before, placebo effect was said to be purely psychological. Although now the scientists have called it more than psychological : Biological. Our brain releases chemicals that can change the whole scenario of our body. It holds the power to increase dopamine level even in patients with Parkinson's disease. 
The patient's trust in the therapy is the key. If they believe that after having certain medicines, they feel at ease, then they will experience relief with the same intensity as with the real medications!
However, The doctors should make sure that the real drug and placebo drug look alike.




So, this was about Placebo effect, a very interesting topic to cover. Hope you learned something new.
Support my ig page : @decode__myths

Thank you!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CAN YOUR PERSONALITY TYPE CHANGE?

Image
D id you ever wonder if you were born with emotions? I for a fact know, we all cried the first time we popped out of our mothers vagina. But is it strong enough to be called an emotion?  Before Isabel Myers came around with 16 type of personalities; it was first a Greek Physician Hippocrates , to talk about the earliest theory ever, to exist about personality. What did the guy say? According to him, Humans (yes, we) are different from one another because of the fluid running within us. Not his exact words, but Hippocrates called it " Humor ".  Later on came, multiple theories on personality and how it develops overtime. But no one ever talked if our Personality type change! That's where i come.  An individual can acquire knowledge from two sources : one from people around, and second, from his own experiences. Now, it is very true that you are half of what your parents are. Although we are born with certain traits, we do change! Do you think you are st
Read more

ARE YOU DEPRESSED?

Image
* trigger warning * What is Depression? Supposedly staying alone in a dark room. That's what comes to our head when we think of a depressed person, and maybe it's true, maybe it's not. After hearing it on Television, movies and from our friends, we all at least know the basic definition of Depression. A condition or a mood disorder,  that is associated with a person's persistent feeling of sadness .  But does it end here? How do we know if someone around us is depressed? Do we ask? Do we observe? What leads to depression?  It's not only just chemical imbalances in brain, but many other factors play a huge role. Stress, life events, gentics and medications are few of the factors listed. A person never readies himself/herself to go through a dark phase in life, but somehow most of us have ended there. 300 million people suffering from Depression is no joke, yet no one comes out and talks about it openly! What makes them afraid?  Let's st
Read more

WHY BEING MULTILINGUAL CHANGES YOUR THINKING PATTERN.

Image
Y ou might know that being Multilingual has its own perks. You can always have the opportunity of moving your positions within an organization . This is an advantage to your career as well as for the industry you'll work in.  Being multilingual becomes handy in multiple ways! Use of more than one or two languages by an individual speaker is called Multilingualism.  That's the basic definition.  We've all had that one extra course in our school or College, that sucked our brains out. Unfamiliar, Different Culture, hard to pronounce and even hard to remember and then there were those teachers who wouldn't leave any chance of bashing us in front of whole class. One thing surfaces in your head " Geez! It's   not my first language, get over it!" What you may find monotonous in your School days, may be very helpful in the future. Now, let me continue with the advantage being Multilinguistic brings to you.  -  Helps in memorizing and processing   inf
Read more