The Placebo Effect: The Power of Hope
I think it’s safe to say that many people have heard of the placebo effect. Just Google the term and you’ll find over 59 million results—no joke! Throughout my psychology and psychopharmacology courses in undergrad, we talked about the placebo effect as if it were an entity playing on the opposite team. The placebo effect needed to be beaten to prove that an oral medication, injection, or procedure was worthy. The placebo was always the standard of comparison, and I agree that such a standard had to be set. I have no issues with the placebo in conventional medical practices.
However, as I began my journey down holistic care, I saw that the placebo effect was also being used as a source for belittling the power of more natural approaches. You think consuming raw garlic when you have a cold can actually help you feel better? It’s just a placebo. You really think that craniosacral therapy can help with your chronic pain? It’s just a placebo. In many ways, the placebo has been regarded as the enemy in medical and holistic healthcare—always something to fight against. I never really understood what was wrong with the placebo, particularly if the intervention in question has minimal or no side effects. Why can’t we just be happy to have less illness or pain or experience greater joy because of the power of our mind?
It wasn’t until I read Dr. Bruce Lipton’s book The Biology of Belief that I felt like someone understood my perspective. A cell biologist by training and a former professor/scientist of prestigious medical schools such as the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Stanford University, Dr. Lipton takes a hard scientific look at how our cells process information, respond to our outer world, and yes—respond to our own mind and inner thoughts. Dr. Lipton describes the wonderment of the placebo effect: serving as evidence of just how powerful our minds are and the capacity for our mind to truly heal our brain and bodies. Dr. Lipton cites a 2002 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine conducted at Baylor School of Medicine. In the study, a surgeon addressed his patients’ severe, debilitating knee pain through one of three surgical procedures:
1) by shaving damaged cartilage from the joint
2) flushing out the joint thereby reducing pro-inflammatory materials
3) performing a “fake” surgery.
The first two procedures were considered standard care for knee arthritis. In the third procedure, the surgeon did everything except modify the knee joint—that included putting the patient under sedation, making a real incision at the surgical site, and even talking and giving instructions just as he would in the other procedures. All patients were given the same follow-up medical care. It comes as no surprise that patients from the first and second groups improved as expected, but…now here’s the turning point…the control group with the “fake” surgery improved just as well as the other groups! The surgeon himself declared that these patients seemed to have benefitted not from his own expert surgical skills but from the placebo effect! In theory, the control group should have had much worse outcomes: they not only received no real medical intervention, but their bodies had to recover from the scaring and stress of the surgery. This study undoubtedly demonstrated the power of the placebo effect, and—in my opinion—the power of hope.
The placebo effect isn’t witchcraft. It doesn’t occur when someone waves a magic wand over you and declares you are cured. It happens when you are engaging in something that you believe that will benefit you. Whether you’re taking a pill, receiving an injection, ingesting homeopathic substances, or attending therapy for yourself or your child, it is the engagement in that activity that brings you hope for something better.
For decades, sensory integration theory has been shunned by the medical and research communities. First the complaints were about SI treatment not being standardized enough or easily replicated from one client to the next. Then SI researchers attempted to manualize treatment to make it more standard. Seems like the appropriate response to the critics, right? The answer is a resounding “no.” The critics began to question the treatment’s fidelity to Dr. Jean Ayre’s original sensory integration theory. Basically, they claimed that by making this type of OT treatment replicable and procedural, they were no longer actually providing true sensory integration treatment. Talk about “damned if you do, damned if you don’t.” These researchers simply wanted to show the world what a difference SI therapy can make for kids and their families. To this day, insurance companies and other funders remain wary of SI therapy and sadly, many children, families, and adults do not have access to treatment that could transform their lives.
And what do I have to say about all of this? I say the power of SI therapy is in the hope—the placebo. I have personally witnessed hundreds, maybe even thousands of lives change for the better because of the work that SI therapists do. The therapy is real. Not just because movement and sensation can change the brain. And not just because a parent’s understanding of their child transforms their relationship. It’s because when we experience hope, our minds can heal and change our brains and bodies.
This is what inspired the creation of The Wishing Well OT.
I not only serve families directly through OT, but I’m also here as resource for so many pain points or questions of life and child-rearing experiences. Whether you or a child you love face…
Anxiety or other emotional difficulties
Picky eating or have food allergens/intolerances
Learning difficulties that affect school, daycare, or work
A feeling of stress, overwhelm, and exhaustion
…Or you just want to understand child development and how to best support your neurotypical child, I am here for you. Let’s walk this journey together. With education and evidence-based information, stories from my experiences, and specific strategies for you to implement, you can feel empowered to be in the driver’s seat of life. Together, let’s celebrate the power of the Placebo Effect: the Power of Hope!
References
Baylor College Of Medicine. "Study Finds Common Knee Surgery No Better Than Placebo." ScienceDaily, 12 July 2002.
Lipton, B.H. (2005). The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter & Miracles. Elite Books: Santa Rosa, CA.
Miller, L. J., Coll, J. R., & Schoen, S. A. (2007). A randomized controlled pilot study of the effectiveness of occupational therapy for children with sensory modulation disorder. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 61, 228–238.
Parham, D.L., Cohn, E.S., Spitzer, S., Koomar, J.A., Miller, L.J., Burke, J.P., Brett-Green, B., Mailloux, Z., May-Benson, T.A., Smith Roley, S., Shaaf, R.C., Schoen, S.A., & Summers, C.A. (2007). Fidelity in sensory integration intervention research. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 61, 216—227.