Placebo? Mind over Muscle at Harvard

Wisdom Quarterly; Alia Crum, Ellen Langer (Harvard), Psychological Science (18, 2: 165-171)

(Chauncey McDermott) Mind over matter: "You can do it, Duffy Moon!"

Mind-Set Matters: Exercise and the Placebo Effect
ABSTRACT—In a study testing whether the relationship between exercise and health is moderated by one’s mindset, 84 female room attendants working in seven different hotels were measured on physiological health variables affected by exercise. Those in the informed condition were told that the work they do (cleaning hotel rooms) is good exercise and satisfies the Surgeon General’s recommendations for an active lifestyle. Examples of how their work was exercise were provided. Subjects in the control group were not given this information. Although actual behavior did not change, 4 weeks after the intervention, the informed group perceived themselves to be getting significantly more exercise than before. As a result, compared with the control group, they showed a decrease in weight, blood pressure, body fat, waist-to-hip ratio, and body mass index. These results support the hypothesis that exercise affects health in part or in whole via the placebo effect.

Shhhh. These are just sugar pills.

The placebo effect is any effect that is not attributed to an actual pharmaceutical drug or remedy, but rather is attributed to the individual’s mind-set (mindless beliefs and expectations).

The therapeutic benefit of the placebo effect is so widely accepted that accounting for it has become a standard in clinical drug trials to distinguish pharmaceutical effects from the placebo effect and the placebo effect from other possible confounding factors, including spontaneous remission and the natural history of the condition (Benson & McCallie, 1979; Brody, 1980; Nesbitt Shanor, 1999; Spiro, 1986). Kirsh and Sapirstein (1998), in a meta-analysis of 2,318 clinical drug trials for antidepressant medication, found that [only] a quarter (25.16%) of the patients’ responses were due to the actual drug effect, another quarter (23.87%) were due to the natural history of depression, and half (50.97%) were due to the placebo effect.

Scholar Shelly Brown: "Bridging science and religion" (news.harvard.edu)

  

Powerful love medicine (glucose, FD&C red)

The placebo effect extends much further than medications or therapy: Subjects exposed to fake poison ivy developed real rashes (Blakeslee, 1998), people imbibing placebo caffeine experienced increased motor performance and heart rate (and other effects congruent with the subjects’ beliefs and not with the pharmacological effects of caffeine; Kirsch & Sapirstein, 1998), and patients given anesthesia and a fake knee operation experienced reduced pain and swelling in their ‘‘healed’’ tendons and ligaments (Blakeslee, 1998). More generally, studies suggest that 60 to 90% of drugs and other therapies prescribed by physicians depend on the placebo effect for their effectiveness (Benson & Freedman, 1996; Nesbitt Shanor, 1999).

The placebo effect does not have to involve inert pills or sham procedures. Symbols, beliefs, and expectations can elicit powerful physiological occurrences, both positive and negative (Hahn & Kleinman, 1983; Roberts, Kewman, & Mercie, 1993).

Prof. Ellen Langer, Harvard University

For example, the mere presence of a doctor increases patients’ blood pressure (the ‘‘white coat effect’’), reinterpreting pain in nonthreatening ways (e.g., as sensations) prompts patients to take fewer sedatives and leave the hospital sooner; and the health decline of cancer patients often has less to do with the actual course of the illness and more to do with their negative expectations regarding the disease (Langer, 1989).

EXERCISE AND THE PLACEBO EFFECT
As the most common health threats are now infectious rather than chronic, remedies have also changed. Doctors now prescribe behavioral changes such as exercise for chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and even cancer. We wondered whether the well-known benefits of exercise are in whole or in part the result of the placebo effect. A positive finding would speak to the potentially powerful... More

Proof that thoughts create our reality

Amber Larson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Pam Grout (E-Squared); Lisa Garr (KPFK.org/TheAwareShow.com)

Look inside E-Squared (amazon.com)

Hay House author Pam Grout has a new book, E-Squared: Nine Do-It-Yourself Energy Experiments That Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality. 

Grout talked about these nine simple experiments on the Aware Show and Coast to Coast with guest host Dave Shrader. Anyone can do these tests to prove for themselves that reality really is malleable, consciousness trumps matter, and we shape our lives with our minds. Each testable experiment can be done with little time and even less money, but what they demonstrate is enormous: Spiritual principles are as dependable as gravity.

Pam Grout goes beyond theory to 100% proof.

One experiment involves planting two seeds side by side and sending mental energy to one -- either in the form of intense thinking, prayer, emotions, or visualizations -- to see what visible effects this has. The two seedlings are physically treated in an identical manner. One is left to grow naturally. But what effect will our thoughts have on the other?

 

Pam Grout is the author of 16 books, including the best-seller E-Squared, three plays, a television series, and two iPhone apps. She writes for People, Cnngo.com, Huffington Post, and her travel blog, georgeclooneyslepthere.com. Discover more about her and her out-of-the-box take on life at pamgrout.com.

(Pure Pollino, Jan. 7, 2014) E-squared author Pam Grout talks about the DIY experiments that prove our thoughts create our reality. This book is an essential guide to achieve a deeper sense of purpose and connection to the universe. Pure Pollino Tues./Thurs., 11:00 am/PST on UBNRadio.com. Grout starts at Minute 17:30.

 

Goodwin

(Inspire Me Today Radio/Gail Lynne Goodwin) Grout is a world traveler, a loving mother, a best-selling author, a millionaire, and an inspiring witness to everyone she meets. Actually, only four of these are true so far, but that line is an affirmation she started using 20 years ago before she ever had a child, before she became a travel writer, or an author and, for that matter, before she even liked herself all that much. Evidently affirmations work, because now she can proudly say that all but one are true. Guess which one is yet to manifest.

 

Shaping Reality?

(C2C) Writer Pam Grout devised simple experiments to demonstrate that reality can be changed. She has previous personal success using intention to improve life, and now there is experimental proof to establish the concept. One basic experiment involves the principle that "there is an invisible energy force that has your back, basically." She advises readers to give this "force" a 48-hour ultimatum to provide evidence of itself. Then "keep your mind open" awaiting a sign. Grout notes that the experiment allows the experimenter to begin opening his or her mind to seeing the possibility behind the principles that shape our reality.

Seeing is believing: divest old conditioning!

Face reality? Create reality. (It's already happening!) So start consciously creating reality. E-Squared could best be described as a lab manual with simple experiments to PROVE once and for all that reality is flexible, adjusting to our thoughts. Consciousness matters more than matter. We are creating our lives with our mind, attention, and ideas. 

Neuro Summit II

Rather than taking this maxim on faith, Grout invites us to conduct nine 48-hour experiments to prove there really is a positive, loving force in the universe. Yes, we can prove it objectively.

 

The experiments, each free and finished in 48 hours, demonstrate that spiritual principles are tangible and as consistent as Newton’s laws of motion. For years, we’ve been hoping and praying that spiritual principles are true. Now, we can know. E-Squared proves the following:

1. There is an invisible energy force or field of infinite possibilities.
2. We impact the field and draw from it according to our beliefs and expectations. 
3. We, too, are a field of energy. 
4. Whatever we focus on expands.  
5. Our connection to the field provides accurate and unlimited guidance.
6. Our thoughts and consciousness impact matter. 
7. Our thoughts and consciousness provide the scaffolding for our physical body.
8. We are connected to everything and everyone else in the universe.
9. The universe is limitless, abundant, and strangely accommodating.