Placebo Effect

The placebo effect occurs when a person responds positively to a physiologically inactive drug. You give someone a placebo, tell them that it will produce a certain effect, and it does so more often than not.

There is a growing recognition that the placebo effect plays a key role in drug therapy, as well as all forms of psychotherapy as well as hypnosis.

Chiefly responsible for the physician’s placebo effect is the enthusiasm and the faith inculcated by his approach. This is transmitted to the patient, who develops the necessary confidence and faith for recovery. Thus the physician himself is still the most important therapeutic agent.

Environmental factors and cultural attitudes towards new drugs, and procedures also enhance the placebo effect. Another interesting factor recently postulated is that all placebos are more effective in the presence of stress, or pain due to organic causes. All these factors simply illustrate the power of words!

In an excellent review of the history of the placebo effect, Shapiro writes that until recently, there was virtual silence about the placebo effect in spite of the fact that this effect is the unwritten therapeutic agent in almost every prescription. The effect of a placebo can be very powerful and often permanently modifies physiologic functioning. These effects are not superficial or transient. Yet their everyday use has been neglected.

Within the pages of “Beliefs” by Robert Dilts, pgs. 14, 15; he illustrated some research which he reviewed years ago. He states, "My review turned up some interesting statistics. In the case of pain, research has shown that placebos can work as well as morphine in 51 – 70% of the patients. Another study looked at placebos from the opposite point of view. In this study, the researchers wanted to find out how well the placebo responders reacted to real drugs, so they gave them morphine. they found out that 95% of the placebo responders did respond in a positive way to the morphine. In comparison, only 54% of people who did not respond to placebos got relief with real morphine – a difference of 41%. People with a high response expectancy for relief got relief. With this kind of data you have to wonder about the efficiency of certain medicines.”

No incident better illustrates the above written facts than a now famous case reported by psychologist Bruno Klopfer. Klopfer was treating a man named Wright who had advanced cancer of the lymph nodes. All standard treatments had been exhausted, and Wright appeared to have little time left. His neck, armpits, chest, abdomen, and groin were filled with tumors the size of oranges, and his spleen and liver were so enlarged that two quarts of milky fluid had to be drained out of his chest every day.

But Wright did not want to die. He had heard about an exciting new drug called Krebiozen, and he begged his doctor to let him try it. At first his doctor refused because the drug was only being tried on people with a life expectancy of at least three months. But Wright was so unrelenting in his entreaties, his doctor finally gave in. He gave Wright an injection of Krebiozen on Friday, but in his heart of hearts he did not expect Wright to last the weekend. Then the doctor went home.

To his surprise, on the following Monday he found Wright out of bed and walking around. Klopfer reported that his tumors had "melted like snowballs on a hot stove" and were half their original size. This was a far more rapid decrease in size than even the strongest X-ray treatments could have accomplished. Ten days after Wright's first Krebiozen treatment, he left the hospital and was, as far as his doctors could tell, cancer free. When he had entered the hospital he had needed an oxygen mask to breathe, but when he left he was well enough to fly his own plane at 12,000 feel with no discomfort.

Wright remained well for about two months, but then articles began to appear asserting that Krebiozen actually had no effect on cancer of the lymph nodes. Wright, who was rigidly logical and scientific in his thinking, became very depressed, suffered a relapse, and was readmitted to the hospital. This time his physician decided to try an experiment. He told Wright that Krebiozen was every bit as effective as it had seemed, but that some of the initial supplies of the drug had deteriorated during shipping. He explained, however, that he had a new highly concentrated version of the drug and could treat Wright with this. Of course the physician did not have a new version of the drug and intended to inject Wright with plain water. To create the proper atmosphere he even went through an elaborate procedure before injecting Wright with the placebo.

Again the results were dramatic. Tumor masses melted, chest fluid vanished, and Wright was quickly back on his feet and feeling great. He remained symptom-free for another two months, but then the American Medical Association announced that a nationwide study of Krebiozen had found the drug worthless in the treatment of cancer. This time Wright's faith was completely shattered. His cancer blossomed anew and he died two days later.

Wright's story is tragic, but it contains a powerful message: When we are fortunate enough to bypass our disbelief and tap the healing forces within us, we can cause tumors to melt away overnight.

email: dr_frank@hypnoticadvancements.com

Mailing address:
Dr. Frank Valente Ph.D.(c)
Hypnotic Advancements
3126 McCarthy Court
Mississauga , ON
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© 2004, Dr. Frank Valente Ph.D.(c)

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