The placebo response is a real chemical reaction in your brain that has been thoroughly studied.
The first published study of placebo effectiveness was in 1799 by English physician John Haygarth and since then scientists at Harvard, the American Cancer Society and countless other institutions have proven that taking a placebo can relieve symptoms.
The placebo response is a real chemical reaction in the brain triggering the release of endorphins, serotonin, dopamine and endocannabinoids that are powerful tools for healing.
Pharmaceutical companies know it.
You’re likely most familiar with placebos in double-blind clinical trials where neither the doctors or patients know whether they are taking a pharmaceutical drug or an all-natural placebo.
In 1962 the Food and Drug Administration began requiring pharmaceutical companies to prove their drugs could outperform placebos in independent studies to get F.D.A approval.
This means that often the human body’s placebo response is so strong it can treat symptoms as well as pharmaceutical drugs.
Recent studies on open label placebos show that the expectation and ritual associated with taking a placebo—even when you know it is a placebo—triggers the release of your body’s natural ability to release beneficial neurotransmitters to aid in healing.
You can turn on your placebo response with a consistent ritual and daily journaling. We created a kit to make it easier for our study participants.
A placebo can be your first and best treatment.
By taking a placebo when you first feel a symptom and tracking it over time, your brain learns to associate the placebo with recovery, thus increasing your natural placebo response.
Here are some serious studies and reporting about the effectiveness of placebos. We encourage you to do your own research too.
“Placebos clearly help reduce certain symptoms such as pain, anxiety, and trouble sleeping in some people.”
“The placebo response is growing bigger over time,” but only in the US, explains Jeffrey Mogil, the McGill University pain researcher who co-discovered the trend. And it’s not just growing stronger in pain medicine. Placebos are growing in strength in antidepressants and anti-psychotic studies as well.
“Behind the scenes, however, MK-869 was starting to unravel. True, many test subjects treated with the medication felt their hopelessness and anxiety lift. But so did nearly the same number who took a placebo”
“People can still get a placebo response, even though they know they are on a placebo. You don’t need deception or concealment for many conditions to get a significant and meaningful placebo effect.”
“New research is zeroing in on a biochemical basis for the placebo effect — possibly opening a Pandora’s box for Western medicine.”
How to activate your response with a placebo.
With the right system, you can improve your placebo response and take control of your health.
First, set your intention
What symptom are you trying to improve? What are you currently taking a medication or supplement for that can be improved by the placebo effect?
These symptoms have been studied to have high responsiveness to placebo treatments:
Pain
Anxiety
Depression
Fatigue
Brain Fog
Insomnia
Motivation
Then follow 3 daily steps
1
Daily Ritual
A consistent treatment protocol with ritualized instructions creates a neural communication pathway, giving you control over when your brain releases endorphins, dopamine, serotonin, and endocannabinoids to alleviate a number of symptoms.
2
Take Your Placebo
Take it daily. (Make sure it’s not a sugar pill.) The Placybo pill we use for studies is filled with organic rice hull. It’s a non-drug solution free of chemicals, supplements or side effects, it’s completely inactive. That’s the ideal for a placebo trigger.
3
Self Study
The key to activating the placybo response is to attention. We use a very simple 4-week Quick Journal to track progress in our studies. Paper is great, because (unlike your phone) it doesn’t spike your dopamine response.