How far can we stretch placebo effect?

Recent research has confirmed the marvelous capabilities of placebo effect (effects caused by strong belief or expectation) on our physical as well as mental well being. I have discussed some of these in my book “How does the Mind work?”

 

In “How and why of Yoga and Meditation – Yoga scientifically explained” I have hinted that placebo effect could be one of the contributors to the marvelous benefits reported by the practice of Yoga postures. Though, I fully agree that benefits of Yoga postures are not all due to placebo effect.

Recently, we keep coming across several ‘best sellers’ that project either chanting of some monosyllable mantras or some weird hand gestures as a ‘cure all’ for all our problems and needs – from depression to sex! If one looks at a bit broadly, there are ‘medical systems’ with concepts that neither stand to logic nor have passed any large scale validation, but still have large adherents who vouch for their effectiveness.

Are we then to take placebo effect as a useful phenomenon in the long run? If we look back, human development seems to be largely due to logical reasoning rather than purely based on faith. Though we cannot altogether get us rid of faith and associated placebo effect, the question is “how far should we stretch it?”