I’m Not Kidding: What You Need Is a Placebo
In the late spring of this year I was directing a play called “Bad Seed” and
my leading actress was having major private problems, among them was that her
middle-aged father had had a major heart attach and she was the primary member
of her family having to cope with this shocking event while at the same time
holding a fulltime job as an administrator at a law firm and, of course,
starring in my play. She is a terrific
actor, one who memorized her huge part almost immediately and performed it well,
but she told me she wasn’t sleeping at night.
“One or two hours at most,” was her sheepish confession. I was very worried and I quizzed her about
various possibilities: warm milk, over the counter sleep aids, doctor
prescriptions. “Tried them all; didn’t
work.” This went on for over a week and
my concern deepened. I sat down and told
her all about my own reactions to my father’s sudden death (see Related Posts
below), so she understood I’d been through something similar to her current
nightmare. However all I could come up
with was sympathy and empathy.
Then a seasoned veteran actor in our cast, named Rosemary,
took our leading lady aside and told her, “I’ve got just what you need: my magic
blanket.” What? Yes, a “magic blanket” and Rosemary assured
our actress lead it would envelope her in sleep as soon as she wrapped it
around herself and settled down.
Smiling, our grateful actress took the blanket, somehow knowing it was
just what she needed.
And here’s what will amaze no one reading this: it worked! Sleep came and things got much better
physically for the sleeper. A week later
I asked her if she still was using it and she smiled and confessed that if she
didn’t wrap up in it she still couldn’t nod off, but if she embraced
herself in Rosemary’s magic blanket she conked right out.
What was going on here?
The answer is that this blanket, a placebo, was exactly what was called
for. My actress didn’t believe in magic,
knew it shouldn’t work, but also knew it would.
How could that be?
Readers of this blog will know that I don’t believe in
magic either, nor cult phenomena, or anything other than what we know scientifically
or can guess from established facts. But
science knows that placebos have always been powerful medicine. Recent studies have proven this, and that’s
what this post is about. By coincidence
I’ve just read two articles within weeks of each other, one in The New Yorker [see https://www.magzter.com/articles/12427/298297/5b80801f3749b]
and the other in Reader’s Digest [see
https://www.magzter.com/article/Entertainment/Readers-Digest-US/The-Power-Of-Fake-Pills],
reporting on the amazing results that testers are having with trials involving
the announced administration of placebos.
By “announced” I mean that the patients were told they were being given placebos, but even so had major success
from taking them, just as my actress did with her “magic” blanket.
What they are proving is the power of the human brain to work
wonders in self-healing. From our
earliest cave days remedies were urged on sufferers by wise old women or men or
self-proclaimed experts of all kinds, and some of these remedies (many of them)
worked even if these “experts” were deficient in expertise. And (we all know
this) some things today’s doctors prescribe are almost identical to cave
healers’ remedies. Doctors, sometimes after a drink or two, will tell you that more
than once they’ve written prescriptions for vaguely disguised sugar pills. Even more important, placebos can help with
depression, chronic pain, and many other maladies. Much of the relief people feel from
acupuncture is thought to come from the placebo effect (patients, blindfolded
and treated with toothpicks but thinking they were feeling traditional acupuncture,
had the same success).
That said, a placebo can’t mend a broken leg of course, nor
other truly physical injuries, but it can (in the case of the Reader’s Digest post) help with writer’s
block, or with calming yourself down enough to make crucial free throws in a
basketball game, or, as with my lead actress, going to sleep in difficult
times.
Even if you really know it’s a placebo? Yes. As
the articles cited above attest that turns out to be unimportant. What is important is that you feel the need
for a talisman, something to help push you over the top of your problem—even
if it’s improbable—so that you have done something to clear this stumbling
block and now can resume normal life.
There is even a movement to sell placebos in drug stores
labelled frankly as such: “Placebo.”
So, my readers, if you get into one of those strange
situations where you feel you need something quirky to get you back to normal, what
the hell? Take a placebo. Or create your own out of your grandmother’s
favorite remedy for the blahs (chicken soup can work wonders). These things are all cheaper than paying a doctor
to give you a sugar pill and direct you to take it once a day. A warm blanket can help with many problems.
Good health to you all!
--------------------
Related Posts:
“A Guide to
the Best of My Blog”; http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html
“The Death of Robert Whaley,”
September 7, 2010; http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2010/09/death-of-robert-whaley.html
“Rape, Biology, and Tricks of the Mind,” January 8, 2015, http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2015/01/rape-biology-and-tricks-of-mind.html
“How to Take a (or Many) Pills Easily,” May 26, 2010; http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2010/05/how-to-take-or-many-pills-easily.html
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