Placebo effect - previously uncovered power of self-healing demonstrated

New mechanisms discovered to activate self-healing

In medicine and naturopathy, the enormous potential of the placebo effect to increase our physical and mental health has long been recognized. The mechanisms that make up this effect are so far largely unknown. A new piece of Israeli research has come a step closer to deciphering the puzzle.

Professor Asya Rolls at the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa recently presented the latest findings of her research team at the FENS Forum of Neuroscience in Berlin. According to the study, placebo stimulates the reward system in the brain. This can result in a strengthening of the immune system.

A recent study brings new insights into the placebo effect. The activation of the reward system in the brain evidently leads to an increased immune response to infections. (Image: Richard Villalon / fotolia.com)

Stress makes you sick - happiness makes you healthy?

As the professor reports, many people tend to get sick when they are or after being exposed to too much stress. This phenomenon has been known for a long time. In her study, the scientist rolled up the field from behind and investigated whether neural networks that are involved in positive experiences also contribute to the self-healing of diseases.

The reward system promotes positive states

The best-known and most common example of a placebo effect comes from the pharmaceutical industry. If someone takes a drug without an active ingredient, without realizing that it is unlikely to have any effect, the reward system increases the expectation of a speedy recovery. As a result, it can happen that pain actually subsides and healing processes are stimulated. Rolls wants to better understand this interaction between the brain and the immune system and to create new therapeutic approaches.

Underestimate self-healing powers

"We underestimated the placebo's potential for treatment and recovery," says Rolls in a press release on the study's findings. The mechanisms behind the placebo effect are still largely unknown, although they play a role in many important medical processes. Doctors and scientists do not understand why people feel better when they unknowingly swallow a sugar pill. The tremendous therapeutic potential therefore remains unused, says Rolls.

Happy mice resist infections

In the tests on animal models, the team could gain new insights around the expert. Using the latest technology, the researchers activated so-called dopaminergic neurons in mouse brains. These brain cells are significantly involved in the reward system. Subsequently, the scientists confronted the mice with coli bacteria that can cause gastrointestinal diseases. The mice in which the reward system was activated showed a stronger immune response to the bacteria and recovered faster.

Thoughts and emotions influence our ability

"We know that thoughts and emotions affect our ability to manage disease," reports Rolls - but one does not know how. Using the latest technology, the scientists were able to show that thoughts and emotions influence the activity of the immune system. They were able to see positive effects on the healing process in mice by stimulating the reward system without any drug.

New treatment options through the placebo effect?

"Once we understand how this works in the brain, we can ask how this knowledge can be used to control brain activity in order to boost recovery," explains Rolls. With the latest technical procedures such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), one could specifically influence brain activities. But Rolls also knows that such applications could have more dangerous consequences than previously thought.

With placebos for mental illness

The expert also sees a possible use in certain mental illnesses such as depression or schizophrenia. These diseases may be more closely linked to the activity of the reward system than previously thought. A better understanding of the interaction between the processing of emotions in the brain and the immune system could lead to new treatment options in this area, according to the professor.

New human research in the starting blocks

In the next stage of research, the Israeli research team wants to test various human techniques. With methods such as TMS and neurofeedback, subjects should learn to control body functions that are normally unaffected. So it should turn out, if it is possible to directly influence the immune defense. This area is still new scientific ground "and this is only the beginning", summed up the scientist. (Vb)