Article January 1, 2001 Issue

Going beyond placebos

What is it that really heals?

By Richard Bergenheim

There have been a number of reports recently on the surprising effect that placebos have in treating sickness. Tests prove that in certain instances unmedicated pills can have as much effect on patients as medicated ones do.

In Science and Health Mary Baker Eddy reminds readers of an experience the famous chemist Sir Humphry Davy had. He unexpectedly "cured a case of paralysis simply by introducing a thermometer into the patient's mouth. This he did merely to ascertain the temperature of the patient's body; but the sick man supposed this ceremony was intended to heal him, and he recovered accordingly" (p. 152). Think about this for a moment. The patient was paralyzed. His belief that the doctor was treating him caused him to be cured. It had to be his belief that changed him, because the thermometer didn't do anything.

Medical science would offer a range of explanations. The problem may have been psychosomatic, or perhaps the thermometer triggered a "response expectation." As an article in The New York Times explained a while back, "The doctor's white coat, nurse's voice, smell of disinfectant or needle prick have acquired meaning through previous learning, producing an expectation of relief from symptoms" (Oct. 13, 1998).

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