Placebo effect

The Placebo Effect is at the core of any mental manipulation that causes physiological changes in the body.

Honest Placebos

"Honest" or "open-label" placebos, where the person taking it knows that they are taking an inactive substance, have been shown to work with nearly the same efficacy as when the patient believes it is medicine. This is due to the subconscious predictive mechanisms in our brain that react to the stimulus of taking a pill regardless of your conscious awareness of what it is. [1] [2]

metaculture sees the utility in harnessing this power to cure a range of ailments that have no known medical cause, stress or anxiety related ailments, pain management, insomnia, and nausea. [3] They can be sold at a much lower cost than dietary supplements and have a lower chance of adverse reactions. They can provide an honest alternative to the plethora of grifters selling expensive snake oil that relies on the same placebo effect. [4]

If you take a placebo and your problem goes away, then you have solved that problem with the lowest possible cost and risk of side-effects. And if it doesn't work, you can always go to the doctor.

Placebo Rituals

In religion and spirituality, rituals are used to bring about the placebo effect intentionally, providing healing, happiness and other benefits to the practitioner.

In order to take advantage of rituals and reap their psychological rewards, it is not necessary to believe in any supernatural premise on which they may be based. It is enough to believe in the placebo effect itself.

Finding greater ways to enhance the placebo effect through ritual has enormous health improvement potential that would cost nothing. Unfortunately this perverse incentive makes their development unlikely under capitalist healthcare.

Placebo Videos

Placate your mind with these videos about the placebo effect.

The Power of Mind Over Body