Season 2, Episode 5 of “The Suite Life on Deck” was pretty enlightening for me. A great chunk of the episode focused on a placebo effect that was used on London Tipton -- Bailey made London believe that if she sprayed her “special perfume,” then she would suddenly become smart. She called it “Smarticle Particles.” And, due to the think-it-be-it effect that is placebo, London actually believed that she became smart and therefore got good grades on her tests (you can Google search this episode if you want to learn more).
Anyway, I was in sixth grade when I came across this psychological concept, and I honestly thought it was the coolest thing ever. Then, in eighth grade, I decided to try this whole placebo thing on my sister. That day, I bought this interestingly packaged water (it’s called Wat-Aah! in case you were curious) at school and brought it back home. When my sister said that her head had been hurting the whole day, I thought, "Why not see if I could help her out by using the power of placebo?" So I told her that this water was made specifically to help get rid of headaches (luckily she didn’t question me). A couple sips and a couple minutes later she came to me and said, “My head doesn’t hurt anymore!”
And ladies and gentlemen, that was my fabulous debut into the medical field. Just kidding.
But, the power of placebo is truly astonishing.
The expression “worried to death” can be another placebo. I heard about this legend when I was at a summer conference a couple years ago. There was a man named Nick Sitzman who got locked in a refrigerator boxcar. There was no way of breaking out of there, and he kept telling himself that he was going to freeze to death in there. The next day, the train crew opened the boxcar door and found Nick’s dead body, but the refrigeration unit of the boxcar was off. Basically, the placebo took over and affected him until he died.
I’ve also seen examples of placebo in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, like when the Lion suddenly feels courageous after drinking some random drink that Oz gave him (note: never take unknown drinks from stranger guys), or when the Scarecrow feels smarter after getting a “brain” (newsflash: it’s not a real brain), or when the Tin Woodman feels more loving after getting a “heart” (that’s right, you guessed it -- it’s a pseudo brain!).
It’s just so crazy how powerful the effect of placebo can be -- how we can convince ourselves so much so that we can suddenly change. The power of expectation and belief can be so beneficial in these cases.
I even have a placebo effect that I use on myself sometimes: I tell myself that if I sleep backward (place my head where my feet usually go), then I will not get nightmares. I have been using this “method” for the past three years and I can say that it works 90% of the time.
