The healing power underlying a person’s thoughts and expectations has flown largely under the radar and focus in the realm of Western Medicine, and so I was intrigued (yet not surprised) when I stumbled upon an abstract of a study the other day, entitled “The Effect of Treatment Expectation on Drug Efficacy: Imaging the Analgesic Benefit of the Opioid Remifentanil.” Researchers discovered (what many people, especially those who are acutely tapped in to the energetics of being are already aware of) that the most influential determining factor to the effectiveness of any drug treatment is (cue intense music) —> a patient’s own mind. It is always exciting to me when bridges are built connecting science and spirituality in ways that have the potential to comfort those “let’s see the numbers” folks into nudging paradigms to the side that are no longer serving in the best of ways—and to open up minds to an entirely new (and at the same time very old) way of treating disease.
In the study’s abstract, the researchers state: “Evidence from behavioral and self-reported data suggests that the patients’ beliefs and expectations can shape both therapeutic and adverse effects of any given drug. We investigated how divergent expectancies alter the analgesic efficacy of a potent opioid in healthy volunteers by using brain imaging.” During the study, “positive treatment expectancy substantially enhanced (doubled) the analgesic benefit” of the medication. On the flip side, when subjects were told that they were not receiving painkiller medications (even while they were) the effects proved to be entirely ineffective. The research showed the benefits of painkillers could be increased or completely canceled by manipulating the subjects’ expectations.
Wrapped up in one sentence?
Relief is up to the patient.
While this amount of scientific “light shed” should have important outcomes for patient care and drug use, there is no money to be made {in our present-day setup} from telling patients that they hold a great deal of potential to heal themselves. That written, treatment modalities (of any variety) will always benefit from weaving these mind-over-matter principles into their approaches. There are thousands of examples where whatever is being “wined and dined” by the mind, in a serious and consistent way, has materialized.
Mind/body medicine is not akin to some wishful, cauldron-stirring result. It is real, concrete and, increasingly, the only way to get lasting results in a society that seemingly lacks an “off switch” when it comes to stress.
Our Minds Matter!!!
It is known from research that the brain regulates healing in the body. This has been repetitively upheld by many studies, where the desired effect(s) of various drugs have consistently missed the boat in the company of a placebo. That we are in charge of our brain is reassuring. The brain carries out its “to do” list in the form of beliefs, intentions, in the trust of what is to happen—positive, negative, conscious and subconscious, alike. There is no better time than *now* to realize that we hold (beyond magical) moxie (capabilities was the word I had written…moxie popped up and I couldn’t turn it down;)) when it comes to our path, our purpose and our healing abilities. It is my sincere hope and intention that we, collectively, continue to migrate toward this (refreshed) and powerful understanding.
(If you would enjoy checking out this study in more detail—> title: “The Effect of Treatment Expectation on Drug Efficacy: Imaging the Analgesic Benefit of the Opioid Remifentanil.” Published in February 16, 2011 in the medical journal, Science Translational Medicine, Vol. 3, Issue 70, p. 70ra14)
(organic lifestyle, 2011)