HOW DOES PLACEBO WORK?

💭 Henry Beecher discovered the placebo

effect as a medic in World War II. After running out of pain-killing morphine, he replaced it with a simple saline solution but continued telling the wounded soldiers it was morphine to calm them. To his surprise, almost 40% of the soldiers reported that it actually reduced their pain.

💭 Having an EXPECTATION of healing leads to the physiological relief of symptoms

💭 EXPECTATION activates reward pathways in the brain, in turn stimulating the release of substances called endorphins and dopamine