Tuesday, October 5, 2021

Exploiting the Placebo Effect! Advanced healing with Procebo(TM)

Recent studies elucidate the Placebo effect as accounting for potentially 60-80% of outcomes as of 2019. This is a dramatic up-swing from decades past when Placebo was considered to account for potentially 30% of outcomes. What is "Placebo" and why is it important? In short, placebo ( Latin- Biblical: "I shall Please") is the idea that a person's thoughts about a treatment, can effect the treatment given them. Placebos are inert substances given patients that ideally should have no noteworthy physiological effect----- however for an increasing number, they do! The idea in testing against Placebo is that the "medicine" has a reproducible effect greater that Placebo ( double blind randomized placebo-based studies are the gold standard in research) in order to verify effectiveness of the treatment, medicine, intervention, beyond that of the patients expectations alone. 

Its amazing to note that patients undergoing such physical treatments, such as knee surgery, also appear to see above 50% positive effects, in some studies,  of a "sham" or Placebo. It is immensely noteworthy to consider the ramifications of patients undergoing both pharmacological as well as surgical intervention and seeing positive results from Placebo. Where attention goes, energy flows is the old saying regarding the fact that what we place our attention and effort upon, seems to facilitate change. We also know Medically that if we take blood and vitals on a person that was just having a dream of running from a cougar, that their heart rate will be high, stress hormones high, respiration high........all variables of that person's physiology will represent a person in  high stress. The body will respond accordingly whether those stressors were real or simply perceived. The interesting part in current research, as stated above, shows that the same often holds true with healing.....that if a person perceives that the medication or treatment is "real" and they are programmed (told) to expect beneficial outcomes, then they do. For some, it appears a far stretch to liken a stressful dream and its effects upon the body to that of  "healing by intent." However, the research appears to be showing us that this is possible in some circumstances. Science often studies ideas and concepts that we might currently believe to be impossible or highly unlikely. Often through this process of measure, proving, trial and error, we find that the magic of yesterday is the science of today. Just look at our current technological advances that only 60 years ago, or less, were thought to be impossible. 
Interesting also, is the concept of "Nocebo," whereby a negative or detrimental effect upon the body has been shown to be elicited by programming or telling the patient ahead that they should anticipate a negative outcome from a specific treatment. Whether we understand "how" the placebo or nocebo effects are possible, we can in fact see that they are experientially. Therefore, these concepts are notable and valuable in research with regards to patient outcomes in healthcare. This author would propose the concept of a "Procebo Effect," Whereby in a proactive manner, patients are intentionally pre-framed for a positive outcome from a particular treatment. I would argue that in many circumstances that this has already been being used to varying degrees over the years, however that it hasn't been referenced within a defined context. The difficulty lies in both appropriate methods and measure of such a process. Initially, the process would need to begin with "defining" the process with appropriate context to its meaning and use. For example: historically the placebo effect was known to have somewhere between 15% - 30% effect in pharmaceutical trials, however as the concept has become more widely understood and accepted particularly in western culture, the latest studies on placebo effectiveness ( Harvard et.al.) in western cultures show that it now accounts for roughly 60% + of outcomes. This effect appears to be therefore pronounced in cultures whereby the definition and context for the term and process has been well established. Therefore the use of the term "Procebo" defined within context, meaning a process of "intentionally or pro-actively facilitating or pre-framing the idea of a positive outcome of a treatment or procedure" could be the initial action step in overall effective use to the benefit of all patients. In doing so, it is arguable that the patient's belief or perception could be intentionally exploited in a manner so as to effect the treatment outcomes in a manner beneficial to the patient. 

No comments:

Post a Comment