The placebo effect refers to the positive health effects experienced after taking an inert substance. Placebos are often used in clinical trials and may be prescribed by doctors. The placebo effect is triggered by a person's belief in the treatment and expectation of feeling better. Research shows that factors like pill size, color, and whether it's a pill or injection can influence the strength of the placebo effect. Conversely, the nocebo effect describes negative health effects from inert substances when a person expects negative effects. Both effects demonstrate the power of the mind-body connection and our ability to influence our health through belief and expectation.

1. Placebo Effect
Can we heal ourselves?
Sarah Al-Bially 215410343/Reeem alqawli 213410974/Jawaher
Almallouhi 213410548/Malak Alraja 213410547/Abeer Alroki
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DR.Seema Gul

3. What is the placebo effect?
• Placebo is Latin for 'I will please', and refers to any medical treatment that
is inert (has no active properties).
• The placebo effect is the positive effect on a person’s health experienced
after taking a placebo.
• Placebos are often used in clinical trials for new treatments, but may also be
prescribed for people by their health practitioner. When this is done
without the person’s knowledge, it raises ethical questions about deception.
• The placebo effect is triggered by the person's belief in the treatment and
their expectation of feeling better, rather than the specific form the placebo
takes.

5. Types of placebo
• A placebo doesn't have to be a pill. It can be any inert or 'dummy'
treatment, such as:
• an injection
• a special diet
• Exercise
• physical therapy
• surgery.
• The placebo effect is triggered by the person's belief in the treatment and
their expectation of feeling better, rather than the specific form the placebo
takes.

7. How placebo works
• Research on the placebo effect has focused on the relationship of mind and
body. One of the most common theories is that the placebo effect is due to a
person's expectations.
• If a person expects a pill to do something, then it's possible that the body's
own chemistry can cause effects similar to what a medication might have
caused

8. Influencing factors of placebo
• placebo is an inert substance that does not directly cause anything. It is
proposed that the placebo, which may be unethical, could be avoided
entirely if doctors comfort and encourage their patients' health.
• Research suggests that for psychological reasons, some placebos are more
effective than others. For example Large pills seem to work better than
small pills, colored pills work better than white pills, an injection is more
powerful than a pill, and surgery gives a stronger placebo effect than
injections do.

9. Nocebo effect
• Even when an inert substance is producing positive healing results in
people, the recipients can nullify the intended placebo effect simply by
having a negative attitude toward its effectiveness, resulting into a harmful
nocebo. Sometimes the effect goes the other way, and the placebo seems to
cause unpleasant symptoms. These may include headaches, nervousness,
nausea, or constipation.
• The unpleasant effects that happen after getting a placebo are sometimes
called the nocebo effect.

10. Example
• A placebo described as a muscle relaxant will cause muscle relaxation, but if
the identical substance is presented as the opposite, muscle tension will
result.
• A placebo presented as a stimulant will raise heart rhythm and blood
pressure, but when administered as a depressant, it will lower both.

11. Effects of Nocebo
• 1.Side effects of drugs:
• It has been shown that, due to the nocebo effect, warning patients about
side effects of drugs can contribute to the causation of such effects, whether
the drug is real or not.
• 2.Electromagnetic hypersensitivity:
• Evidence suggests that the symptoms of electromagnetic hypersensitivity
are caused by the nocebo effect.
• 3.Pain:
• Verbal suggestion can cause hyperalgesia (increased sensitivity to pain) and
allodynia (perception of a tactile stimulus as painful) as a result of the
nocebo effect. Nocebo hyperalgesia is believed to involve the activation of
cholecystokinin receptors.

13. • Another example of the Nocebo effect would be if a doctor gave a patient a
powerful drug, but it was labelled as a placebo and the doctor told the
patient it was a placebo. So, believing that the drug was fake, it is more
likely that patient would report that the drug had less effect than one would
normally expect. This, again, is a result of the patients’ negative
expectations and how they perceived the drug would, or in this case,
wouldn’t work.

14. Conclusion
• The placebo effect is scientific proof that we have the
ability to heal ourselves and our thoughts are powerful
enough to bring things into existence.