A reader sent in a link to a fascinating article on The Nocebo Effect.

You’ve heard of placebos, I suspect. Placebos can be pills given to a patient that are supposed to have no effect, but in fact, have a positive effect because the patient is expecting help from them.

Nocebos are the opposite of placebos. With a nocebo, a patient expects harm to result and they accordingly have a bad experience. The harm that results is not from any material causation, but because of their belief.

For instance, have you ever known a person that expects the worst to happen, and that’s what they get? The worst! Their belief is a nocebo. There would have been no bad effect if it hadn’t been for the harm they created out of their own fears.

I remember a patient many years ago who complained of several physical problems, and had her reasons for why they existed. No amount of prayer seemed to help. She insisted she had to go to a doctor to find out what was wrong. She went and was told by the physician that there wasn’t a thing wrong with her. “It was all in her head,” he said. She came home, and finally allowed prayer to heal her.

Her insistence that physical reasons existed for her suffering acted as a nocebo, and until that belief was gone, spiritual healing proved elusive.

In the first two-thirds of the above article you’ll find some thought-provoking examples to ponder. The information is a metaphysical eye-opener for any who underestimate the bad effect of negative expectations.