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Yellow's picture

Hypochondriacs and the Placebo Effect

Submitted by Yellow on Wed, 09/24/2008 - 9:05pm.

Health is subjective. Hypochondriacs, though tests show nothing is wrong with them, feel awful. On the other hand, people who take placebo pills--thinking they are real pills--feel better even when no chemicals exist in the pills to make them feel better. So what causes this to happen?

Apparently health is correlated to mental state of mind. This could mean that someone who has cancer could feel perfectly healthy if they aren't healthy, and not realize it until something in their body stops working.  

This leads to questions about the power of "yes"--does positive thinking make someone feel healthier? Does looking for something wrong with our diets, sleeping patterns, exercise make us unhealthy because we are looking for something wrong?

In my opinion, every person has the power to stay healthy by taking care of themselves and not worrying about one's health every second. I guess I'm in Hadler's boat. 

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