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Hypnosis is a placebo?
I've often heard and read this rubbish. As a trained nurse I came across all the myths, never saw one being used in the hospitals *I* worked in except as a research control, never as an actual treatment, but, as this has recently been pushed at hypnosis I thought I'd correct this interesting and total missuse of the word.
Placebo:
1. Medicine/Medical, Pharmacology.
a. a substance having no pharmacological effect but given merely to satisfy a patient who supposes it to be a medicine.
b. a substance having no pharmacological effect but administered as a control in testing experimentally or clinically the efficacy of a biologically active preparation.
2. Roman Catholic Church. the vespers of the office for the dead: so called from the initial word of the first antiphon, taken from Psalm 114:9 of the Vulgate.
I wasn't aware that suggestion was any of the above.
Placebo:
1. Medicine/Medical, Pharmacology.
a. a substance having no pharmacological effect but given merely to satisfy a patient who supposes it to be a medicine.
b. a substance having no pharmacological effect but administered as a control in testing experimentally or clinically the efficacy of a biologically active preparation.
2. Roman Catholic Church. the vespers of the office for the dead: so called from the initial word of the first antiphon, taken from Psalm 114:9 of the Vulgate.
I wasn't aware that suggestion was any of the above.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Greg M on -
Kind of ironic, isn't it, that one of the most effective tools of hypnosis is the use of metaphor, and here is a term being used to describe hypnosis metaphorically. Does that make the non-believers applying the term hypnotists, or hypno-crites?
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Permalink Reply by Michael Ellner on -
An example of suggestion acting as a placebo is when a doctor gives antibiotics to a patient with flu-like symptoms and the patient heals faster than would be expected. In this case, the antibiotics acted as a placebo because they have no medicinal effect on a flu-virus. The faster than expected healing was based on the patients beliefs and expectations.
Suggestion can produce placebo and nocebo effects and hypnois can be effective beyond the placebo/nocebo effect. Studies using Naltrexone have suggested that the placebo effect, at least in pain relief can be turned off by blocking the endorphine system. Direct suggestions for producing endorphines or natural painkillers can be negated by giving a subject naltrexone which blocks our natual painkillers. But, some hypnotizees still get the pain relief benefits beyond the placebo effect and without the benefit of endorphines by simply dissociating from their pain.
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Permalink Reply by Kelley Woods on -
The major problem, IMHO, with naming hypnosis as a placebo is that placebo is not an effect, but a response. Placebo is, by definition, Latin for "I will please" and like its darker counterpart, nocebo ("I will harm") occurs as a response to an application of an inert substance or ritual and is generated by the subject's expectations and beliefs.
Taken in this context, the process (or ritual) of hypnosis can create conditions for the response of placebo, but is not placebo itself.
[Citation]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocebo
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Permalink Reply by Michael Ellner on
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Kelley,
A person's state of mind is a very powerful healing tool and when it is driven by an excited imagination amazing outcomes are possible.
The "Pac-man" imagery that produced the well documented remissions in Dr O. Carl Simonton's terminal stage cancer patients was a placebo and it produced a placebo effect/response. There is no way the imagery itself could account for the remissions and it was the patient's beliefs and expectations that produced the dramatic and long term remissions.
FYI Researchers have discovered that the placebo effect/response is greater when one uses an active placebo compared to an inert placebo.
active placebo
noun
a placebo used in experimental tests of a drug that has noticeable side effects; "an active placebo mimics the side effects of the experimental drug"
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
American Psychological Association (APA):
active placebo. (n.d.). WordNet® 3.0. Retrieved January 23, 2010, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/active placebo
Chicago Manual Style (CMS):
active placebo. Dictionary.com. WordNet® 3.0. Princeton University. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/active placebo (accessed: January 23, 2010).
---
Placebo - What is a Placebo - Definition and Information
http://bipolar.about.com/od/medications/f/faq_placebo.htm
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Permalink Reply by Taylor Sherman on -
Michael Ellner said:
Very interesting, Michael, Thank you.An example of suggestion acting as a placebo is when a doctor gives antibiotics to a patient with flu-like symptoms and the patient heals faster than would be expected. In this case, the antibiotics acted as a placebo because they have no medicinal effect on a flu-virus. The faster than expected healing was based on the patients beliefs and expectations.
Greg M your reply was funny as well ;)
Hypnosis is referred to a placebo because of the mechanism by which a placebo acts - it acts because of the suggestion being made.
Many times I hear people say that something is "just" a placebo, when in fact placebo's are awesomely powerful. Anyone here ever hear of the potato cure for warts? If your kid has a wart you tell them, "Now I am going to cut this potato in half, because there is a magical healing property to potatos, and when you wake up tomorrow the wart will be gone..." And sure enough, 9 times out of 10, it is.
The potato being given in this case is no different than a sugar pill, so yes we could say that hypnotic suggestions can have effects that "similar to" that of a placebo, but are in fact utilizing the exact same mechanism.
Taylor Sherman
www.HypnoticInductionsBlog.com
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Permalink Reply by Bruce Taylor C.Ht on -
The SCM is the most powerful cure for anything ailing us. When someone is given a placebo they are if successful given an expectation in their mind. That is all that is needed for a cure to the human body. The SCM is quite amazing. Let the curing begin.
Bruce Taylor
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Permalink Reply by John Cleesattel on -
I heard that the placebo effect that is referenced to hypnosis is one where the body does the healing because the mind thinks it took the remedy. This is a bit different than just placebo = fake.
just my two cents
John
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Permalink Reply by Joshua Johnston on
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I was not aware of the Naltrexone studies. That's interesting, and also useful in demonstrating that hypnosis is more than simply placebo. Do you have a link for those studies? I'd like to read more and possibly add it to my list of resources.
Joshua
Michael Ellner said:An example of suggestion acting as a placebo is when a doctor gives antibiotics to a patient with flu-like symptoms and the patient heals faster than would be expected. In this case, the antibiotics acted as a placebo because they have no medicinal effect on a flu-virus. The faster than expected healing was based on the patients beliefs and expectations.
Suggestion can produce placebo and nocebo effects and hypnois can be effective beyond the placebo/nocebo effect. Studies using Naltrexone have suggested that the placebo effect, at least in pain relief can be turned off by blocking the endorphine system. Direct suggestions for producing endorphines or natural painkillers can be negated by giving a subject naltrexone which blocks our natual painkillers. But, some hypnotizees still get the pain relief benefits beyond the placebo effect and without the benefit of endorphines by simply dissociating from their pain.
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You hit on something that I think is a bit important here. When people say, "Hypnosis is just placebo," what they really *mean* is, "Hypnosis is fake." They're not saying, "Hypnosis works and here's what makes it work."
If it were the latter, I don't think too many of us would be too upset by people using the word placebo. After all, the mechanism by which placebo works *is* similar to hypnosis, so as a metaphor or a way to understand hypnosis, it works.
Joshua
John Cleesattel said:I heard that the placebo effect that is referenced to hypnosis is one where the body does the healing because the mind thinks it took the remedy. This is a bit different than just placebo = fake.
just my two cents
John
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Permalink Reply by Michael Ellner on
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Hi JJ
Here's the ctiations you requested:
Is placebo analgesia mediated by endogenous opioids? A systematic review. Pain Vol 76, Issue 3, June 1998, Pages 273-275
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T0K-...
Naloxone fails to reverse hypnotic alleviation of chronic pain:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/j9331213h5684326/
Joshua Johnston said:I was not aware of the Naltrexone studies. That's interesting, and also useful in demonstrating that hypnosis is more than simply placebo. Do you have a link for those studies? I'd like to read more and possibly add it to my list of resources.
Joshua
Michael Ellner said:An example of suggestion acting as a placebo is when a doctor gives antibiotics to a patient with flu-like symptoms and the patient heals faster than would be expected. In this case, the antibiotics acted as a placebo because they have no medicinal effect on a flu-virus. The faster than expected healing was based on the patients beliefs and expectations.
Suggestion can produce placebo and nocebo effects and hypnois can be effective beyond the placebo/nocebo effect. Studies using Naltrexone have suggested that the placebo effect, at least in pain relief can be turned off by blocking the endorphine system. Direct suggestions for producing endorphines or natural painkillers can be negated by giving a subject naltrexone which blocks our natual painkillers. But, some hypnotizees still get the pain relief benefits beyond the placebo effect and without the benefit of endorphines by simply dissociating from their pain.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Ellner on
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JJ and John
We are the masters of re-frame -- Not only is the Placebo Effect/Response Real --The placebo effect/response is the standard of whether or not a drug or medical device works --
The frontline licensed pain specialists that I educate have no problem with my pushing the awesome healing powers of the mind because they already know that Morphine is 50% more effective if a patient knows they are getting it.
Wheee!
Michael E.
Joshua Johnston said:You hit on something that I think is a bit important here. When people say, "Hypnosis is just placebo," what they really *mean* is, "Hypnosis is fake." They're not saying, "Hypnosis works and here's what makes it work."
If it were the latter, I don't think too many of us would be too upset by people using the word placebo. After all, the mechanism by which placebo works *is* similar to hypnosis, so as a metaphor or a way to understand hypnosis, it works.
Joshua
John Cleesattel said:I heard that the placebo effect that is referenced to hypnosis is one where the body does the healing because the mind thinks it took the remedy. This is a bit different than just placebo = fake.
just my two cents
John
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Permalink Reply by Greg M on
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Ok, ok... I'll make a serious contribution...
Placebo effect accounts for about 40-44 percent symptom relief when included in most drug studies. In other words, about 40 percent of the patients receiving the placebo treatment report abatement of symptoms. Why in the h-e-double-toothpicks would anyone knock that?
Oh, wait, it'd be unethical to charge 5 to 10 bucks a pill for a placebo. Now I get it. And if hypnosis is "just" a spoken word, then it must be placebo, too.
Ya think we should include benign side effects in our trancework so the clients won't know they're just getting a placebo?
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