The Placebo Effect: The Power of the Mind

Image credit: Daily dose documentary

Marvellous Olajide

Can believing you are getting better actually make you better? The answer, according to a growing body of scientific research, is yes—and it is all thanks to a fascinating phenomenon known as the placebo effect.

What Is the Placebo Effect?
The placebo effect occurs when a person experiences real improvements in their health after receiving a treatment that has no therapeutic value—like a sugar pill, saline injection, or even a sham surgery. It is not the treatment itself that is working, but the patient’s belief that it is. It could also occur when a person tastes something in their meal that they believe to be in it even though the ingredient is not present in it.

The effect has been so powerful in some cases that clinical trials now routinely use placebos as a control to distinguish between the true effectiveness of a drug and the psychological boost of believing it works.

Researchers believe that the placebo effect is more than just “all in your head.” When someone expects a treatment to work, their brain can release natural substances like endorphins and dopamine, which influence pain, mood, and even immune response. In essence, the brain can act like a pharmacy—dispensing its own healing chemicals.

There is this interesting urban legend about a prisoner who was sentenced to life imprisonment and a group of scientists decided to use him to conduct an experiment. On the day of the man’s death, these scientists reveal to him that he was going to be put to death by the bite of a venomous snake. He was shown the snake and then blindfolded. The scientists went ahead to prick him with two sharp needles mimicking the effect of the snake fangs. In few minutes, the man dropped dead and when an autopsy was carried out, they found toxins similar to that of a venomous snake!

This man believed that he was bitten by a snake and it was like his mind caused his body to produce snake venom that led to his demise. Similar stories to this have been told, like someone who was fine and well until they were falsely diagnosed of cancer, then the symptoms of cancer started to manifest in their body or the opposite of that, someone who didn’t believe that they had a disease despite the doctor’s statement and then they actually survived it!

Neuroimaging studies have shown measurable brain activity changes in people who report improvements after taking a placebo. This suggests that expectations, conditioning, and prior experiences all shape our physical responses.

As students, while we cannot use the placebo effect to magically change our CGPAs or a grade in a particular course, we can actually leverage on it by creating positive beliefs and expectations about our abilities to succeed academically. This can involve techniques like positive self-talk, visualization of success, and focusing on the benefits of learning rather than the challenges. By shifting our mindset to a more optimistic and confident one, we as students can tap into the placebo effect to reduce stress, improve mood, and enhance our overall academic performance.
The placebo effect can be also leveraged in any sector to trigger our bodies into having a positive response in situations that might not be favourable or comfortable. Always remember, “The mind is everything. What you think, you become”
Whatever you have not conceived in your mind, you cannot be. If we started to leverage more on the power of our minds, then we would be unstoppable!