How Does Placebo Effect Psychology Work

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Have you ever wondered how the placebo effect works? It’s the phenomenon wherein an individual is more likely to think that a medical treatment will work for them when it doesn’t. You see, when an individual has a belief about something, they are more likely to believe that it will work. It may be based on a well-established theory, or it may stem from personal experiences. No matter what the reason is, this effect makes it very hard for individuals to distinguish between real and false treatments.

An Overview

When people come across information about placebo effects, they are often mystified and ask, “How does it work?” Well, you may be surprised to know that indeed, such a phenomenon does, in actuality, truly exist. It is known as the placebo effect psychology, which is actually quite more powerful than you might think. Read on to discover what this fascinating psychological effect is and how you can use it to your advantage.

The placebo effect psychology of medicine comes from how some individuals are just more susceptible to various types of medications. For instance, people who suffer from chronic headaches are often given pain medications despite the fact that they do not need them. They simply don’t want to take the pain medications and are willing to try anything in order to get relief. While this does help them relieve their symptoms, it also creates a double standard because those who receive the pain medications are more likely to have stronger psychological connections to these medications, thus believing that these medications will help them more than they actually will.

Placebo Effect And How Psychology Works

A man riding a wave on a surfboard in the water

This explains why the placebo effect psychology occurs so often. Even though a person is more susceptible to strong pain medications, they will still take the medications despite the fact that they do not need them. This has both psychological and physiological effects on the body. One of the physiological effects is that the body releases chemicals into the brain that cause the same level of pain to be experienced as if the person was experiencing real pain. In addition, the release of these chemicals also helps the body adjust to the new pain medication so that the patient may remain comfortable.

When this happens, the person may find that they end up experiencing better symptoms of pain because they believe that they are actually experiencing more pain than they actually are. In fact, this phenomenon goes even further and involves the release of endorphins into the system. Endorphins are chemical neurotransmitters that act as natural painkillers, especially when they are taken in high concentrations.

To understand the link between endorphins and placebo effect psychology, one must first know about the placebo effect psychology of medicine. When a person receives a medical treatment, they may be affected by the placebo effect in two different ways. First, the placebo effect will make the individual feel better than they normally would. If the individual has been experiencing chronic pain, then this may be enough to convince the individual that the medical treatment is actually working, thus believing that the treatment is improving their condition.

Second, the placebo effect psychology can also make the person believe that the prescribed medication is actually the cure for the pain they are suffering from. When the medication is received, the individual may start to feel better as a result of the medicine. They may continue to feel better until the medication has completely worn off, at which point they may realize that they have been receiving the wrong kind of medication all along. This means that the person may believe that they have received a medical treatment when in reality, nothing has changed. The individual may continue to feel worse for the rest of their life if this pattern is not broken.

Bottom Line

Endorphins are powerful painkillers that come from the pituitary gland, which is located deep inside the brain. Endorphins are released naturally while the person is awake and working, but after the person has fallen asleep and is in REM sleep, there is a rapid decline in the amount of endorphins that are released, which can cause the individual to feel better. Scientists have theorized that the reduction of the endorphins are caused by the actions of the neurons in the brain. These neurons release chemicals called neurotransmitters, which are responsible for transmitting messages from one part of the brain to another. Scientists have discovered that when these chemicals are present in the correct proportion, the brain can create the sensation that it is receiving what it needs to feel better, therefore tricking the individual into believing that the medication is actually helping them get better.