The Placebo Effect

Medicines have an effect on our health because they contain chemical substances (analgesics, antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and a long etcetera) that act on our cells and tissues and help improve our state of health when we have any ailment.

What is it

The placebo effect, which comes from the future of the verb "to please" in Latin, is defined as that effect produced on the body by a substance that, without having any therapeutic action, without being any active principle, produces a healing effect on the person because she believes that what she is taking is a drug.

The pills that contain placebo are usually water or sugar and despite everything there is a relief of the symptoms in more cases than is believed. Using neuroimaging techniques, which allow us to see how the brain reacts to taking this placebo, it has been seen that the effect is not merely a psychological issue, but that there are indeed areas of the brain that are activated and a release of chemical substances occurs , neurotransmitters, which effectively exert a function on the modulation of symptoms such as pain, mood or motor function of patients with Parkinson's. That is, even if you are not taking any drug, taking the placebo causes a real neurological response in certain people.

pain control

One of the situations in which the placebo has been seen to have the most effect is in pain control. Taking a placebo to control pain has shown in imaging tests such as functional nuclear magnetic resonance imaging that certain areas of the brain that are involved in the perception and control of pain are activated, such as the thalamus, the somatosensory cortex, the insula, periaqueductal gray matter, amygdala, nucleus accumbens, or prefrontal cortex. When taking the placebo, these brain regions secrete endorphins and natural opiates that help relieve pain, even though you are not actually taking any painkillers. Likewise, placebo has also been shown to activate a pain modulating response that is transmitted through the spinal cord.

It is not known through what exact mechanisms the placebo acts, but it has been seen that the higher the expectations that the person has in the therapeutic power of the drug, the greater its effect. Thus, there is a clear psychological component, but it cannot be denied by scientific evidence that placebo causes in certain people a real response at the level of brain chemistry; the mechanism is real, while the trigger is not: we are managing to fool our own physiology.

It has also been seen that the same placebo can act on different ailments. For example, if it stimulates a region of the brain called the amygdala, the placebo effect can be beneficial for both pain control and anxiety. Moreover, sometimes revealing to a patient that he is taking a placebo does not diminish or make the beneficial effect of it disappear, although this does not always happen, and in general, when the patient finds out, the placebo stops working.

How it is administered

The placebo effect does not always occur through an oral medication, it can also be caused by an ointment or even a surgical intervention, although subjecting a patient to surgery simply in search of a possible placebo effect implies subjecting a person to a anesthetic and surgical risk only due to a probable beneficial effect.

The placebo effect is widely used in clinical trials with patients in which the effect of a new drug is compared to taking a substance without the least therapeutic effect. On the other hand, despite the fact that the placebo effect may be useful in certain people, it is not so in everyone and the use made of it by certain non-regulated therapeutic practices that have not been demonstrated independently and with scientific evidence may be dangerous. that they can report some type of benefit for the person, relying only on the placebo effect to "prove" its therapeutic efficacy.

Thus, the mechanism of action of the placebo effect is not known, but it has been shown that in certain people taking a placebo can trigger a real biochemical response that achieves the desired effect with the taking of a harmless substance.

• The curative effect in a person produced because they believe that what they are taking is a drug, without being it, it is called Placebo effect.
• Neuroimaging techniques have made it possible to see how the brain reacts to taking a placebo and it has been seen that it causes a real neurological response in certain people.
• One of the situations in which it has been seen to have the most effect is in pain control.

REMEMBER THAT

Before taking any medication, you should consult a specialist. MAPFRE Salud insurance offers its policyholders the most complete guarantees to protect their well-being and that of their family.

General Medicine Specialist Advance Medical Consultant Physician