The Flip Side Of Placebos: The Placebo Effect

The notion that placebo, nocebo or rituals, like shamanism, responses are all depended upon “the power of belief, imagination, symbols, meaning, expectation, persuasion, and self-relationship” (Kaptchuk 2002:818)

In “The Flip Side of Placebos: The Nocebo Effect,” it is mentioned that seriously sick patient was mistakenly informed and given just months to live. After the death, however, the autopsy showed that there was no known pathologic cause of early death. This extreme case could be the effect of nocebo, the warning of the negative side effects of the treatment can lead to the cause of those negative outcomes. Or one can say this is natural self-harming process of our body due to psychological effects. One of the possible explanations of the nocebo response is that since patients are

In the case of shamanism described by Levi-Strauss, it is “a psychological manipulation of the sick organ, and it is precisely from this manipulation that a cure is expected” (Levi-Strauss 1963: 192), whereas, in the case of nocebo, it is a psychological manipulation on the negative side effect of the drug that leads to negative outcome. The same for placebo effect but in a positive way. In these cases, one common factor is the patient expectations and beliefs toward a treatment. “Patient expectations influence outcomes of both placebo and active treatment” (Kaptchuk 2002:818). The pregnant is only able to give childbirth with ease because “she believes in myth…accepts the mythical beings in the stories and never questions their existences” (Levi-Strauss 1963:197). The nocebo effects are expressing based on the specific type of drug that patients believe they are taking. It is the power of beliefs, expectation and imagination that patients have on a psychological level that is affecting in a physical level on their body for both nocebo and