Suggestible You by Erik Vance

Journalist Erik Vance grew up in a Christian Science home. Though he no longer adheres to the religion, he believed that he experienced and heard many true stories of seemingly miraculous healing. The not miraculous, but still amazing source of these improvements in health may be in the brain. Vance recounts his search for answers in Suggestible You.

Our brains are hard at work predicting what will happen next; we are constantly expecting. What we perceive, and how our brain reacts is powerfully affected by expectation. Our expectations are shaped by suggestion. Though suggestion has many forms, at the heart of each is a story. It doesn’t have to be an actually true story; it just needs to be plausible and resonant.

One area where the power of suggestion is apparent is the placebo effect. Our bodies produce chemicals that can make us feel better, and sometimes it just takes a good suggestion to get it to do so. A placebo is such a suggestion. Placeboes contain no drugs that should be effective and can take many forms such as a pill, a shot, a fake surgery or even the presence of a professional who seems competent and caring. Placeboes work so well that on certain type of diseases that they are better that many treatments.

The effectiveness of placeboes presents a problem for medical researchers. How do you sort out the effect of a treatment from the placebo effect? Modern medical research requires testing to show that a treatment is more effective that a placebo. In the United States, the law requiring such studies was introduced by Senator Estes Kefauver, who readers of this blog may know from his anti-comic book hearings.

There is also a nocebo effect, essentially the brains response to a suggestion that makes us sick. Noceboes are connected to fear, so they are in a sense supercharged in comparison to placeboes.

Vance looks into other ways suggestions can affection or brains, particularly hypnosis and false memories. Science provides some answers for how these things work. Placeboes seem to be tied to chemicals released by the brain, though there seem to be several at work and they may represent only a few of the ways placeboes my work in our incredibly complex brains. Hypnosis is not the same as placebo and its workings remain mysterious.

Suggesting affects us in ways outside of health. Marketers are particularly interested in our suggestibility. Our expectations can influence the way food tastes and our perceptions of value.

Vance finds hope in the still incomplete science of how expectation affects our health. Those who are susceptible to placebo or hypnosis (not necessarily the same people) may have a host of options for coaxing out the healing powers of their own bodies. Better understanding of how these things work may help us make better treatments for those who are less susceptible. He envisions a day when placeboes and hypnotism may be treatments medical professionals apply in much the way the use drugs or surgeries.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

Change Your Brain Change Your Body by Daniel G. Amen

How to Fail at Almost Anything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams

Timeless Healing by Herbert Benson with Marg Stark

Vance, Erik. Suggestible You: The Curious Science of Your Brain’s Ability to Deceive, Transform, and Heal. Washington, DC: National Geographic, 2016.

Timeless Healing by Herbert Benson with Marg Stark

Herbert Benson, M.D., is known for discovering the relaxation response. This is a natural, restorative state of the body that can be elicited with practices similar to meditation. Though the relaxation response is discussed in this book, it is not the focus.

Timeless Healing is about the power of the mind, especially the power of belief, to cause or accelerate healing. Benson specifically refers to the well-documented placebo effect, which he refers to as “remembered wellness.” Remembered wellness is a phenomena distinct from the relaxation response, though both can be useful.

Benson summarizes the results of several studies related to remembered wellness. Patient beliefs, caregiver beliefs, and positive patient-caregiver relationships have significant, large effects on healing and the effectiveness of medical treatment. The body affects the brain and the brain powerfully effects the body; they are intimately linked and there is no body-mind dichotomy.

This connection between body and mind was recognized in historic medicine. Because the processes of the body were not understood, ancient physicians relied heavily on remembered wellness. As scientific knowledge increased, medical practitioners became reluctant to acknowledge the effect of remembered wellness, instead preferring the newfound power of science.

That very science had to account for remembered wellness. The placebo effect in powerful.  Traditionally, placebos were thought to be about 30 percent effective; studies conducted by Benson and his associates showed them to be 70 to 90 percent effective. Instead of dismissing the placebo effect as an oddity, Benson advocates recognizing and using remembered wellness in medical practice, patient care, and especially self-care.

Another element of belief that affects health is faith. We seem to be wired to believe in God (or something greater or an ultimate power).  Benson sites studies that show that regardless of the particulars, religious beliefs and observances contribute to healing. He refers to the combination of remembered wellness, the relaxation response and belief as the “Faith Factor.”

Mind-body medicine has gained popularity in the 17 years since Timeless Healing was published, but the overall medical system has not changed a lot, in spite of the constant talk about and changes to medical policy. There is still relevance to Benson’s chapter on incorporating remembered wellness into the medical system, and the billions that could be saved by helping people heal themselves of the mostly stress-related symptoms that drive them to physicians. The book also has a chapter on how an individual can incorporate remembered wellness into his self-care and his relationship with his physician and medical care.

Some strategies for self-care using remembered wellness include

-challenging negative automatic thoughts,

-using visualization and affirmations (especially combined with eliciting the relaxation response),

-focusing on helping others,

-letting go of worries (and stopping obsessing over health and all the medical news),

-recognizing the healing power within yourself while wisely recognizing the need for medical care,

-finding trustworthy guides and advisors

-trusting your instincts and recognize the value of your emotions as well as analytical facts, and

-letting your faith, religion, or belief in God be part of your healing.

There is also a note of warning in the book. The placebo effect can also produce negative results, or a “nocebo” effect. Our beliefs can cause illness and negate the effectiveness of medication. Negative beliefs, stress and worry are bad for your health.

Herbert Benson also wrote The Relaxation Response.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

Change Your Brain Change Your Body by Daniel G. Amen

Rapt by Winifred Gallagher

Benson, Herbert, with Marg Stark. Timeless Healing: The Power of Biology and Belief. New York: Scribner, 1996.

More from Keenan Patterson at Google+

Cure by Jo Marchant

Over my lifetime, I’ve observed an increasing interest in the connection between mind and body. It is not a new concept, but it has gained ground and the Cartesian distinction between mind and body has eroded. However, how we are still learning how it works and the extent to which it is effective in the treatment of disease. Geneticist and science writer Jo Marchant explores these issues in Cure.

Marchant considers three areas in which there appears to be mind-body connections that have promise for use in medical settings. First is the placebo effect. Next, she looks at meditation, biofeedback and hypnosis. Finally, she discusses the effects of our viewpoint, especially how increase or reduce stress.

We are equipped with an internal pharmacy that can reduce or aggravate pain, and it can be triggered by something as vague as our expectations. This placebo affect can be as powerful as drugs at reducing pain and some other symptoms of disease, which can make it difficult to test the effectiveness of drugs. Some physicians are starting to change their minds about the placebo effect. Instead of seeing it as a problem that gets in the way of testing drugs, they are seeing it a potential substitute for drugs. The placebo effect has limitations; it can reduce pain and symptoms, but it does not cure the underlying disease or injury. There is also a nocebo effect, which causes pain and fatigue.

Another interesting effect discussed by Marchant is conditioning of the immune system. In some cases, we can prompt the immune system to have a conditioned response; we can train it. After taking a drug, the immune system can reproduce the response to the drug at lower doses. We can strengthen the conditioning by accompanying the drug with strong rituals; repeating the rituals can produce the response to some degree. This holds some promise for improving the effectiveness of drugs and reducing the dose needed to be effective, especially when a drug as serious side effects. I thought this was fascinating.

Our brain is more connected, and in control, of our bodily functions that we previously realized. Meditation, hypnosis and biofeedback can allow people to exercise control over operations of the body that were previously thought to be automatic or even independent of the brain. This includes pain, blood flow, stress response, heart rate variability and vagal tone.

Relationships also have a profound effect on our health. Strong social connections keep us young, and lack of relationships is harmful to our health. Our own compassion for others can reduce stress hormones and inflammation. When physicians, surgeons, nurses and other health care professionals care for their patients as people, those patients receiving the emotional support experience less pain and longer lives.

Marchant shows there is potential for a new way of doing medicine, or room to reintroduce older practices. By slowing down and showing genuine concern for patients, doctors can multiply the effect of their treatment. Teaching people to slow down and pay attention to their bodies, the people they love and the good things in their lives, we can take advantage of the healing capacities of the mind and body. Medicine can be less about dispensing drugs and more about lifestyle and relationship.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

The Beethoven Factor by Paul Pearsall

Change Your Brain Change Your Body by Daniel G. Amen

Descarte’s Secret Notebook by Amir D. Aczel

Ecclesiastes

The Genius in All of Us by David Shenk

I Can Make You Happy by Paul McKenna

I Can Make You Thin by Paul McKenna

Instant Self-Hypnosis by Forbes Robbins Blair

Job

The Last Self-Help Book You'll Ever Need by Paul Pearsall

Overwhelmed by Brigid Schulte

Psalms

The Relaxation Response by Herbert Benson with Miriam Z. Klipper

The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck

The Solution by Lucinda Bassett

Solve for Happy by Mo Gawdat

Suggestible You by Erik Vance

Switch on Your Brain by Caroline Leaf

Take the Leap by Heather McCloskey Beck

Timeless Healing by Herbert Benson with Marg Stark

Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg

Marchant, Jo. Cure: A Journey into the Science of Mind over Body. New York: Crown, 2016.