Mind Over Medicine – you may have heard about the Placebo Effect – but what about Nocebos?

Book Review of Mind Over Medicine by Lissa Rankin

You’ve probably heard of the Placebo Effect — but have you ever heard of its shadow twin, the Nocebo Effect?

I’m partway through reading Mind Over Medicine: Scientific Proof That You Can Heal Yourself by Lissa Rankin, M.D., currently on the New York Times Best Seller list.

I’ve been looking forward to this book ever since I heard it was being published. I truly believe Lissa is one of the visionaries helping to heal our broken medical system.

The Doctor Who Walked Away

Lissa Rankin is a medical doctor and former OB-GYN who eventually left her practice after experiencing complete physical and spiritual burnout, as a result of trying to see 40 patients a day for just seven minutes each.

Sound familiar?

In Mind Over Medicine, Lissa begins by exploring spontaneous remission (when people recover without any clear medical reason) and the placebo effect (when patients get better after taking what they believe is medicine, even if it’s a sugar pill).

And here’s where things get fascinating, and a bit shocking.

Did you know that people who respond strongly to a placebo are often removed from clinical trials?

Yes, really. I had to pick my jaw up off the floor when I read that.

Why Aren’t We Studying the Power of Belief?

I’ve often wondered why pharmaceutical companies don’t study the placebo effect as a route to healing.

Lissa Rankin sheds light on this in her book, after digging through endless medical journals:

“The data I was collecting was impressive, and I had to wonder if it might be even more impressive if every effort weren’t made to minimize the placebo effect in clinical trials.

If researchers perceived the placebo effect as a positive phenomenon, perhaps we’d see even higher percentages. But that’s not the focus most researchers have.

Clinical-trial coordinators and medical researchers (mostly employed by pharmaceutical companies) go out of their way to diminish the placebo effect.

After all, patients who get better from placebos interfere with a drug’s ability to get approved for market.”

To make sure of that, many studies include a “washout phase” — where participants take an inert pill, and anyone who reacts positively is eliminated before the real trial even begins.

Really? Truly? I couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief. People who have the power to get well are excluded from the study. Wow.

So, apparently, Positive Beliefs + Nurturing Care = Healing is not a formula that interests the pharmaceutical industry.

I suppose I knew that already… but it still hits hard to see it spelled out so clearly.

Enter the Nocebo Effect

I’d heard of the Nocebo Effect before, but I didn’t fully understand it until reading this book.

Simply put, the Nocebo Effect is the opposite of the Placebo Effect.
It’s when we think ourselves sick — and sometimes, we get sicker when surrounded by others who see us that way too.

Lissa puts it simply:

Negative Beliefs + Harsh Care = Sickness.

This idea reminded me of a story from my NLP™ (Neuro-Linguistic Programming™) training with Richard Bandler.

He once told the story of a woman who arrived at one of his workshops as a wheelchair user, although she had no physical symptoms preventing her from walking. Through hypnosis, Richard helped her shift her inner state, and she was able to walk again.

He explained that her condition was rooted in secondary gain: a subconscious belief that being a wheelchair user would ensure she received love and care. Not the healthiest solution, but her body-mind had chosen it as a way to meet a deep emotional need.

That’s the Nocebo Effect in action:

If you believe something will make you sick, it very likely will.

The Mind Can Heal or Harm

Lissa shares several striking examples from medical studies:

• Three-quarters of participants thought they were receiving an antihistamine but got a placebo instead, yet still felt drowsy.
• 34 college students were told they’d receive an electrical current through their heads and might get headaches; no current was applied, but they got headaches anyway.
• A control group in a chemotherapy study received only saline, but were told their hair might fall out, and 30% of them lost their hair.

Surgeons even note that patients who believe they might die during surgery, or who lack the will to live, are often the ones who don’t make it.

Placebo and Nocebo — Both Deserve More Study

If you love science, you’ll appreciate the detailed references in Mind Over Medicine.

Both the Placebo and Nocebo effects reveal just how powerful our beliefs truly are. The mind-body connection isn’t a vague concept. It’s measurable, repeatable, and profound.

The takeaway?

The power of personal belief is one of our most potent tools for health and healing.

We just need to remember how to use it.

To See More Books I’ve Reviewed

Books Reviewed 2010-2019

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