Wired.com_Placebo Effect

First: the Link to the WIRED.COM article

http://www.wired.com/medtech/drugs/magazine/17-09/ff_placebo_effect?currentPage=1

What is the Placebo effect?

Simply put, it's having a condition given us and we get better or worse due to THEE EXPECTATION of the what we believe to be the outcome that WILL occur.

Here's an example:

Joe: hey, Grant did you know that if you eat oatmeal everyday for 30 days you'll lower your cholesterol by 20 points? i didn't believe it at first but i tried it and sure enough, two months later when i went to the doctor my cholesterol was down 20 points, just like the article i read in Men's Health said!

Grant: Wow! that's amazing! I'll have to try that.

Result: 

Grant eats the oatmeal (condition) for 30 days and due to his belief of what Joe said, he expects that his cholesterol will be at least 20 points lower the next time he sees his doctor in 3 months.  Grant goes to Dr. and Dr. says his cholesterol is down 20 points.

My Point:  

The Placebo Effect is usually talked about in conjunction with someone taking a pill, but what these scientists are finding out is that it's not just a simple sugar pill that creates an effect of getting better--it's simply thee expectation and belief that one willll get better or worse that enables them to do so.

This article points out that Neuroscientists are finding proof of this in certain areas of the brain that are activated when one has an expectation about the future--whether good or bad.  Ever hear of those people who self-prophecy--you know, speak what they believe out loud to themselves over and over and over--then finally it comes to pass because they believed?  

Well this article brings light to this self-prophecy/ placebo effect being something of scientific merit.  It also brings up the idea that due to this new neuro scientific evidence that maybe all this money in the pharmacy industry (whether for creating or buying your drugs) is a sham after all due to the many trials every new drug has to continually pass IN ORDER TO BEAT the placebo effect well enough so as to claim that your Advil or Aleve have any more quantifiable merit than a piece of chocolate or a sugar pill.  If someone actually persuaded you that eating a little dove chocolate square would heal you just as much as an Advil or Aleve, guess what, IT WOULD!