Z Cherry Blog

Self-healing with expectation

October 6th, 2008

The most intriguing and persistent effect in therapeutics must be “the placebo effect” – the self-healing brought about through positive expectation. This can be the level of trust generated in the therapeutic relationship, the cultural meaning of the treatment etc.

When we get sick the body’s natural healing system isn’t working effectively – however if the body’s self-healing mechanism can be kicked back into gear by an increased expectation of positive outcome – e.g. through using clinical hypnosis therapy – then it may follow that the self-healing mechanism can be inhibited by a poor expectation of positive outcome – or a high expectation of negative outcome – i.e. those who expect to get stick get sicker and those who expect to get well get better.

The challenge is that self-reporting on expectation may not reveal the true level of expectation – i.e. that the individual may not always be directly or have direct access to their level of expectation as it manifests in health. However the double-blind placebo controlled trials do identify the positive results associated with expectation.

Entry Filed under: Health