The German Medical Association have published a survey that shows half of doctors in Germany prescribe placebos. Half of Swiss doctors agreed they also prescribe placebos.
You have probably heard of a placebo or the placebo effect. A placebo is a dummy drug used in medical trials in order to test the effectiveness of new drugs. Placebos do not contain any healing chemicals, they are typically something like sugar pills or water. They are given to some of the participants in the trial of new drugs. Placebos are supposed to have no effect, to act as a baseline to gauge in which to compare the success of the new drug. They are not supposed to heal but, the thing is, they frequently do because the patients in the trial believe they are taking the new effective drug. Their belief heals them.
The Case of Mr Wright1
In 1957 a patient, Mr Wright who had terminal cancer was given a life expectancy of two weeks by his doctor, Bruno Klopfer. His only medication was oxygen to breathe and a sedative to help him on his way. However, Mr Wright had enormous faith in a new miracle drug (Krebiozen) that was being tested in the clinic he was in. He didn’t qualify for the programme because he condition was too serious. He begged so hard that his doctor gave him a single injection of Krebiozen. His doctor then noted that ‘the tumour masses had melted like snowballs on a hot stove”, in three days they were half their original size and he was walking around the ward chatting happily.
Mr Wright was symptom free for two months until he read in the newspaper that Krebiozen was worthless at treating cancer. Mr Wright began to lose faith in his last hope, he relapsed to his original state and was re-admitted to hospital.
With nothing to lose, his doctor assured him that the first batch had deteriorated rapidly in the bottles and a new super-refined double-strength product was due to arrive the next day. The next day what Mr Wright actually received was an injection of salt water. Once again he was symptom free for two months. Then the headlines again proclaimed that the national tests of the drug had proved it to be worthless in the treatment of cancer. With his faith now gone Mr Wright relapsed and died two days later.
The effectiveness of placebos very much depends upon the illness, the nature of the medical trial and the way in which they are prescribed by the doctor. The biggest factor is the patients’ belief that they will get better. 35% is often quoted as the effectiveness of placebos but it can be as low as 10% or as high as 100%2.
In traditional western medical there is an increasing interest in ‘the placebo effect’. More and more research is taking place to understand how it works. New technology, such as brain scanners, is providing scientists with further insight into how placebos work. Research now shows that when we take a placebo, believing it to be an effective drug, the brain responds in a similar way as if we are taking the actual drug. The brain triggers the production of a natural chemical that is tailor-made to combat the illness. This was first proven in 1978 where scientists at the University of California showed placebo painkillers worked because the brain was producing its own painkillers5 (analgesics).
So, no longer can the placebo effect be dismissed as being ‘all in the mind’. When you believe something, chemicals are produced in your brain, carrying out what you believe should happen. Your mind affects your body biologically.
No wonder they are so popular in Germany and Switzerland.
- B. Klopfer, Journal of Projective Techniques Vol 21, (1957), 331-340
- Dr David Hamilton, Your Mind Can Heal Your Body, HayHouse Publishing, 2010, 31-42