The Placebo Effect Should be the Focus of Medical Research

Originally Published:

October 29, 2015 by Andy Sway

Tell me if I’m getting this all wrong but, I think medicine keeps looking in the wrong place when it searches for cures and treatments. I think the placebo effect contains within it the key to healing.

Whenever a new drug is tested its results are compared to a placebo. Half of the group takes the drug and half takes a placebo. As early as 1955 it was noted that 32% of patients in these studies responded to the placebo. The placebo effect comes down to the patient believing that the placebo is an effective drug. Not only can healing happen through the use of a placebo but, even side effects of drugs are experiences by patients who have been warned about them.

So, to me this means that there is some kind of mechanism in the body that can heal illness. Obviously we have immune systems and the body does repair itself in numerous ways. It seems to me that whatever is causing the placebo effect is the most exciting discovery yet to be made. In my healing practice I am more interested in actual results than belief but I always say that even if all we are doing is tapping the placebo effect, that is amazing! I would rather have a client experience healing through the power of their belief than with a toxic drug anytime. I have seen amazing physical and emotional healing in clients after working with them with Quantum Hypnosis Healing Technique (QHHT) as well as energy healing. In Quantum Healing we speak with the client’s higher self and ask ‘it’ to do the healing. With energy healing, I ‘run’ energy on the client’s energy system and oftentimes say that even if all we are doing is activating the Placebo effect, that’s fine with me. I don’t think I heal anyone, I only facilitate energy shifts in the client. In the end, the client heals him/herself.

My proposal is that the scientific community make a big push to discover the underlying cause of the placebo effect and make this ultimate healing ‘tool’ a cornerstone of medical treatment as well as alternative healing.