“Life is full of suffering, but it is also full of overcoming it.”
Day 6 Morning Scorecard and Resilience Self-Reflection:
Placebo Effect: Creating Something From Nothing
The brain is an incredible organ and one of its most fascinating abilities is to trick itself in countless ways. To understand why this is possible it is important to realize that most of us view the brain as one entity that is always aware of what its different parts are up to. Similar to the way a basketball team has individual players but works in coordination with their teammates to make things happen. However, the brain doesn't quite work like that. It’s more useful to think of the brain as a large city with so many moving parts that it would be impossible for each distinct part to know what the other parts were up to. Because the brain is so complex it makes sense that communication between different areas of the brain is not always seamless. This may explain why the brain can convince itself of just about anything given the right circumstances.
Some of the time, your brain’s inability to effectively communicate can cause dysfunction in your life but other times it can work to your advantage. The placebo effect is one of those instances where the brain’s lackluster communication skills are actually helpful. The classic example of the placebo effect is when a patient takes a sugar pill believing it’s a medication and then magically their symptoms disappear. In this case, the brain’s network convinces itself to heal itself. This may seem far-fetched but thousands of studies have shown that the placebo effect is real. To put it bluntly, the placebo effect is when your thoughts heal you not the treatment.
It is as if one area of the brain is yelling for pain relief and just wants you to do "something." Another area of the brain receives information that you're doing "something" and then the pain goes away. The "something" you did, however, may have just been to take a sugar pill with no active ingredients. However, the part of the brain that is creating the experience of pain doesn't really care. It is just happy that its responsibility to create action is complete. This may be why just picking up the phone to call your doctor often results in a dramatic drop in symptoms. Your brain just wants you do “do something” so it can feel more in control of the situation.
I tell you all of this to point out the power of your thoughts to heal yourself. So take advantage of your brain’s inability to effectively communicate with itself and "DO SOMETHING" about your problems: talk to a therapist, phone a friend, or take a walk! It doesn’t even matter if you believe it will help you, your brain just needs some indication that you're taking action.
FACT: People can know something is a placebo and still have their symptoms disappear shortly after taking the placebo.
TAKEAWAY: The brain wants you to address the problem in some way and even if the brain knows it’s a sham it doesn’t care.
Immune Neglect: When you Forget that You’re Awesome
The brain can be a real pain in the ass sometimes. When a problem hits, our brains tend to go to the worst-case scenario. When making this simulation, however, the brain fails to factor in the natural coping skills that will make the outcomes much different then we imagine. This evolutionary hiccup in the brain is called “immune neglect” because humans have a tendency to only imagine the negative effects of a problem without acknowledging our already established coping skills that will make most problems manageable. For instance, it’s pretty normal to freak out when you are told that a test you thought was two weeks in the future is actually happening this Thursday. However, once you take a deep breath (coping skill) or go for a run (coping skill) the problem dissipates and you come up with a plan of attack. However, forgetting your coping skills exist is pretty common and causes a lot of us to overreact.
FACT: An anticipated stressor that hasn't happened yet or may not happen at all is still registered in the thalamus (stress chemical distribution) and amygdala (fear center) as currently happening.
TAKEAWAY: Your brain will react to an anticipated stressor as if it’s already happening to prepare you for action.
“Your current situation is not your final destination.”