Nocebo

Recently i read an article about 'Nocebo:the evil twin of placebo'...why it caught my eye?
Quite simple really...its main content was basically what we all already knew, i.e: knowing and believing what you know is far more potent than just knowing.

Its basic concept is applicable on all levels of life and living.

'Nocebo' is latin for "i will harm"...guess it boils down to 'what i don't know wouldn't hurt me'

Here are the interesting bits:
-Ten years ago, researchers stumbled onto a striking finding: Women who believed that they were prone to heart disease were nearly four times as likely to die as women with similar risk factors who didn't hold such fatalistic views.

The higher risk of death, in other words, had nothing to with the usual heart disease culprits -- age, blood pressure, cholesterol, weight. Instead, it tracked closely with belief. Think sick, be sick.

-They are convinced that somethings going to go wrong and its a self-fulfilling prophecy.

-A study of aspirin and another blood thinner in heart patients and came up with an unexpected result that said little about the heart and much about the brain. At two locations, patients were warned of possible gastrointestinal problems, one of the most common side effects of repeated use of aspirin. At the other location, patients received no such caution.--> Those warned about the gastrointestinal problems were almost three times as likely to have the side effect. Though the evidence of actual stomach damage such as ulcers was the same for all three groups, those with the most information about the prospect of minor problems were the most likely to experience the pain.

Well...all that being said,today with the ever changing ethical standards,these 'nocebo' studies can't be conducted...thus making it a mere hypothesis...

I believe i was trying to make a point; the mind is indeed a powerful tool-it either makes you or breaks you.What you choose to believe in is what gets you ahead.
Knowledge or the lack of it is dangerous...physical effects and physically produced effects are 2 very different things.
Both of which make lives of medical practitioners very unpleasant.

p/s:i've decided on investing in a 'mamak',please support the local service industry.