Post by donq on Dec 13, 2016 5:07:17 GMT
If a doctor told you, "Take this pill, it will do you good". Sure, it will do, won't it? On the contrary, if someone else, told you the same thing, even you took the same pill, it might not do you any good. The pill was the very same but why the difference?
As I used to post about placebo effects (here in brief: it appeared that in a number of cases of patients, drugs acted not on their properties, but the expectation of the patients.) so here I'd like to talk only about (verbal) suggestion.
Now it is obvious that of the many ways in which an idea can be implanted in a person’s mind the most powerful is by the direct method of verbal expression. For example, a man might glance out of a window and note that the sky was overcast; this would give rise to the idea that possibly it was going to rain, that is, would act as a “suggestion” of a possible storm. But this new idea would be of little intensity and would quickly vanish under ordinary circumstances. Suppose now that a friend had entered and said "It is going to rain, the sky looks very black." then the idea of an oncoming storm would be much more potent and would definitely arrest his attention. Again, a person for some reason may have the idea that he was not quite well; possibly this has been suggested to him by a feeling of lassitude. But he may dismiss it from his thoughts and occupy himself with other things. On the other hand, suppose he has met a friend who said with emphasis, “By jove, you do look ill!”—Then the idea of actual illness would have become much more intense so that the associated idea of treatment or of consulting a doctor would soon present itself.
So, if someone you trust (and believe in them) told you something (suggestion), if you already had some idea about that, it had a chance that whatever you were going to do (as accepting their suggestion) would work. Because, in most (if not all) cases, anyone else would have the better judgement than a patient (who is in pain and sick), right?
Anyway, sometimes it might work in a strange way as the following story:
A young woman was experiencing great stress. Here therapist prescribed tranquilizers and asked her to come back in a few weeks. When he next saw her, he asked if she noticed any difference in herself.
"No," she said, "I don't. But I have observed that other people seem a lot more relaxed!"
"No," she said, "I don't. But I have observed that other people seem a lot more relaxed!"
