Hanyi #11 - The Nocebo Effect
While procrastinating my English homework by watching YouTube, I stumbled across this certain video by CGP Grey: "This Video Will Hurt." Out of curiosity, I clicked on it.
The narrator begins by stating multiple scientific jargons on "hypersounds" and how the beginning of the video is filled with them. He states that these hypersounds are inaudible through the human ear, however, they can still be sensed. These sounds, he describes, are extremely painful and start causing headaches in the recipient as soon as they begin playing. I was skeptical of this, thinking there is no possibility a video on YouTube can cause physical pain. However, sure enough, I soon began to sense this "pain" that he describes to be felt in your ears.
Then, with sudden calm and silence, the narrator exposes this "hypersound" as actually nonexistent. There was no special audio embedded within the video that causes intense pain in the recipient's ears. However, what could have possibly caused that discomfort I felt as he described the effects of this apparently non-existent "hypersound"?
This, the narrator goes on to explain, was the effect of the Nocebo effect. It is the direct opposite of the Placebo effect. The Placebo effect, if you are not familiar with it, is the phenomenon that patients prescribed with fake drugs that do nothing, although told they are real, somehow reports real results and improvement for their symptoms. How can this be possible? It turns out if the patient simply "believes" they are being cured, their body sometimes does actually cure itself (although this obviously does not apply to all diseases). The Nocebo effect is very similar, except instead of curing, it instead causes harm.
CGP Grey describes an experiment where a doctor is giving two sets of patients a shot. The doctor would tell one set of patients nothing, while he would tell the other that the shot he gives them will start hurting after thirty minutes. Sure enough, thirty minutes later, the patients that were given the shot the doctor said will hurt reported pain in the spot where the injection was given.
The thing is, the shots given to the two sets were the same. There was no physical difference between the two scenarios, with the only difference being the doctor saying the shot will hurt one group. Somehow. the doctor's verbal speech was able to cause pain in the patient.
Through the doctor's speech, he somehow has inflicted pain on another individual, demonstrating an apparent power within the language he uses. This phenomenon has been tried to be explained, however, our limited understanding of the complex human brain has not yet been successfully answered.
Hey Hanyi! Nocebo sounds truly horrifying. Being in pain just because someone told you to be in pain sounds like it should have some deep philosophical meaning, but it just sounds painful to me. It seems like it could be a great torture technique because you don’t even have to do anything; the victim will just inflict pain on themselves. A simple question arises on what the genuine point of this would be evolutionarily, but then thats a question for people far more advanced than I. The more you know!
ReplyDeleteHey Hanyi! The Nocebo effect seems like a really fascinating phenomenon! Our brain works in funny ways and we are from comprehending it accurately. There is so much we don’t know about ourselves and this is genuinely scary. We only understand about 10% of our brain functions, which is barely scratching the surface. When more is understood by both scientists and ourselves, I’m sure we’ll be able to become stronger and more mentally able. While I’m not too familiar with neurology and the workings behind it, it was really enlightening to learn about the various effects our environment can have on our brains. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Hanyi, right after reading your post I decided to watch the video to try it out myself. However, I don't think it worked for me because I already knew that I wasn't actually going to feel pain and it probably affected how my brain perceived the situation. Still, reading about the Placebo and Nocebo effect was really interesting to me. Oftentimes our brains alone can trick our bodies into something if we believe in it strong enough. Mindset can really make a huge difference when performing a task, and that's why it's essential to always expect the best out of something so that your brain will convince your body that the outcome will not be as bad.
ReplyDeleteHanyi, what a fascinating post to read. I know what the placebo effect is and heard about it in many of the medical shows I watched. However, I never heard of the Nocebo effect. I was shocked reading this that you actually “experienced” the pain even though there is no sound. I think it is just something that all humans have. If someone sells a product good enough, we go and buy it because the person has convinced us that we absolutely need the product in our life. I think the Nocebo effect is the same way. The narrator is convinced that you should be experiencing this pain so you “bought” pain causing you to experience it.
ReplyDeleteHi Hanyi! This is such an interesting phenomenon! I never thought about there being an opposite to the placebo effect, but it definitely shows that words can be really powerful in influencing someone's mental state. This kind of reminds me of how when little kids cry, if we make a big deal over the injury, they are much more likely to cry more rather than if the situation was handled more calmly. I think that these phenomena work when we are vulnerable, such as when we are receiving medicine for a sickness, so it is easier for us to be convinced that we will feel an effect if we are told so. Our mindset actually affects us more than we think, so it looks in some cases, positive thinking will actually result in positive outcomes and vice versa.
ReplyDeleteThis is so interesting, I had no clue there was a word for it. I’ve always called the Nocebo effect a “self-fulfilling prophecy” which never quite fit into the circumstance in the way I intended. My dad is a large proponent of this, he always says that what we say is what will happen, and I’ve taken on this mentality as well. Our brains are so fascinating because despite all the knowledge we’ve gained over the years, we still fall for verbal interactions and the slightest nudges towards lies and falsities. We have an innate want to believe perhaps, and that is a sweet mentality for our minds to rely on.
ReplyDeleteHey Hanyi, this is really interesting and really goes to show how weird our brain functions in that just being told something can give you symptoms that wouldn’t have occured in the first place if nothing was mentioned at all. I think this is kind of similar to how my mom would always tell me not to think negatively or the outcome will actually be negative when it didn’t have to be that way at all. This also makes me wonder about the other possibilities of using the Placebo or Nocebo effect to influence people in the future once we find out more about the brain. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Hanyi, I have heard before that sometimes people can manipulate others to make them believe something that isn’t actually true. It often happens with magic tricks when magicians make their subjects believe they will fall asleep when they hear a certain sound or think the things around them are invisible. Even though this is to a greater degree and is potentially staged, I find it very interesting that our minds can be tricked into believing something that isn’t actually true.
ReplyDeleteHi Hanyi! The title of the video you found was super intriguing and I would have definitely watched it out of curiosity as well. It is so fascinating that our minds trick us to feel something just because we are told it will happen. I have heard of the Placebo effect before and the example of fake medicine. This story really shows the power of our brain and how fully believing in something can actually make it come true. The Nocebo effect is something I have never heard of before, but I find it super interesting how pain can be induced by our brain. Overall, I learned so much from reading your blog. Thank you for sharing!
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