The Placebo Effect

 

In chapter 21 of Educated by Tara Westover, Tara takes a few pills for the first time ever, for her earache. At first, she doubts their ability entirely because her mother always said that medical drugs have a special kind of poison in them that never leaves you for the rest of your life. However, I sense that after a while, hope started to trickle into her and even disbelief as her earache was gone after mere minutes. I do think that these pills genuinely worked for her because she actually tried to get them not to work (although they still showed to relieve her pain), but that got me thinking about something I am pretty familiar with: the placebo effect. 

The placebo effect is getting used more and more in clinical trials, but it can also be seen in our everyday lives. It happens when the body produces a real response to a fake “treatment”. In clinical trials, the number of people who believe their pain is getting better when they haven’t actually received the drug they were supposed to, is getting larger and larger each trial. Why is this? I believe that we, as humans, are becoming more easily persuaded or manipulated. We are so much less likely to hang on to our own opinions when others give theirs. We believe what we want to believe, or what others want to believe, rather than asking our brains if something is actually accurate. The influence of other people or objects in our lives is getting stronger each day. This can be beneficial, like feeling better after taking a medication which we don’t know the effects of, or harmful, such as when we are given the negative effects we can experience or bad things that could happen to us that probably won’t. I know that I am very easily affected by others’ opinions, but we always have to remember to never let anyone think for us. Your opinion is valid. Think before you let someone else’s become a priority over yours.