Comments on: Delusions About Self-Healing http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2011/01/25/delusions-about-self-healing/ Where science collides with life, slams into culture, crashes with politics, and gets totaled. Tue, 27 Sep 2011 17:28:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Sidd http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2011/01/25/delusions-about-self-healing/#comment-87707 Sidd Wed, 26 Jan 2011 23:57:01 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/?p=15245#comment-87707 Brian, that anecdote reminds me of the second stanza in this poem here. http://h-38.com/2010/09/22/memorys-account/ just a funny and interesting premise. haha Brian, that anecdote reminds me of the second stanza in this poem here.

http://h-38.com/2010/09/22/memorys-account/

just a funny and interesting premise. haha

]]> By: Brian Too http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2011/01/25/delusions-about-self-healing/#comment-87680 Brian Too Wed, 26 Jan 2011 01:09:01 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/?p=15245#comment-87680 Little anecdote. Many, many years ago I was swimming and boating on a wonderful lake. Having a great time. Eventually I slipped on a rock and cut myself on the foot. Very inconvenient, although a minor injury. We were a long way from our home dock at that point. I decided to try the power of positive thinking, on the spot. After a few minutes the bleeding stopped and I told my cousin about my little experiment (I hadn't told him about the accident). I was quite proud of myself, until he observed that it would have stopped anyway. <i>That's what minor cuts do, they clot and stop bleeding.</i> Took the wind right out of my proverbial sails! Little anecdote.

Many, many years ago I was swimming and boating on a wonderful lake. Having a great time. Eventually I slipped on a rock and cut myself on the foot. Very inconvenient, although a minor injury. We were a long way from our home dock at that point.

I decided to try the power of positive thinking, on the spot. After a few minutes the bleeding stopped and I told my cousin about my little experiment (I hadn’t told him about the accident). I was quite proud of myself, until he observed that it would have stopped anyway. That’s what minor cuts do, they clot and stop bleeding. Took the wind right out of my proverbial sails!

]]> By: Sean McCorkle http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2011/01/25/delusions-about-self-healing/#comment-87677 Sean McCorkle Tue, 25 Jan 2011 23:11:40 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/?p=15245#comment-87677 Nullius: agreed, and well put. And an extremely interesting question: Is the placebo effect real, and if so, what is it? Nullius: agreed, and well put. And an extremely interesting question: Is the placebo effect real, and if so, what is it?

]]> By: Nullius in Verba http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2011/01/25/delusions-about-self-healing/#comment-87671 Nullius in Verba Tue, 25 Jan 2011 18:48:18 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/?p=15245#comment-87671 You know, I think sometimes that medical researchers are so used to treating the placebo effect as the zero on their scale of effectiveness, that they never stop to think about what it actually implies. Try explaining in a couple of sentences what the placebo effect is, and how it works, and then re-read the above. You know, I think sometimes that medical researchers are so used to treating the placebo effect as the zero on their scale of effectiveness, that they never stop to think about what it actually implies.

Try explaining in a couple of sentences what the placebo effect is, and how it works, and then re-read the above.

]]> By: Curious Wavefunction http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2011/01/25/delusions-about-self-healing/#comment-87668 Curious Wavefunction Tue, 25 Jan 2011 18:27:42 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/?p=15245#comment-87668 I have to say I don't really agree with Sloan. While it may be true that positive thinking cannot actually cure any disease by itself or may not even mitigate the symptoms to any measurable extent, by denying any connection between mental states and disease or the lack thereof, you are denying the basic connection between mind and body which definitely seems to be untrue. I think there are at least indirect ways in which personality and positive thinking can aid the treatment of disease. For instance, cancer treatment is often hampered by patients giving up and discontinuing their medication because of side effects like extreme nausea. I think it's obvious in such cases that people who generally have a "fighting" personality might tolerate the treatments for longer, leading to a greater probability of recovery. This would naturally be true of other diseases too. There are other examples; you yourself mentioned the effect of stress on physical well being and stress definitely is a function of mind. Perhaps there was a reason why Peter Medawar, when asked by Stephen Jay Gould about what the best determinant of cancer survival was, said, "A sanguine personality". At the very least I think we need to see many more studies before drawing Sloan's conclusion. I have to say I don’t really agree with Sloan. While it may be true that positive thinking cannot actually cure any disease by itself or may not even mitigate the symptoms to any measurable extent, by denying any connection between mental states and disease or the lack thereof, you are denying the basic connection between mind and body which definitely seems to be untrue.

I think there are at least indirect ways in which personality and positive thinking can aid the treatment of disease. For instance, cancer treatment is often hampered by patients giving up and discontinuing their medication because of side effects like extreme nausea. I think it’s obvious in such cases that people who generally have a “fighting” personality might tolerate the treatments for longer, leading to a greater probability of recovery. This would naturally be true of other diseases too. There are other examples; you yourself mentioned the effect of stress on physical well being and stress definitely is a function of mind.

Perhaps there was a reason why Peter Medawar, when asked by Stephen Jay Gould about what the best determinant of cancer survival was, said, “A sanguine personality”. At the very least I think we need to see many more studies before drawing Sloan’s conclusion.

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