Can Unproven Health Rituals Help You Get Well?
Compelling research suggests it’s possible
In 2004, researchers at the University of Turin in Italy conducted a compelling though controversial study. Thirty people who had recently undergone surgery — and also suffered from high anxiety — were given the drug diazepam, more commonly known as Valium.
Half of the people in the study were told they were receiving the drug via an infusion, while the other half were told they were not getting the drug through their IV. The researchers observed that within just two hours of the injections, there was a clear drop in reported anxiety among the people who knew they were getting diazepam but practically no difference in anxiety among the people who did not know that they had received the drug.
“The main finding is that when the patient is completely unaware that a treatment is being given, the treatment is less effective than when it is given overtly in accordance with routine medical practice,” the researchers concluded. The findings suggest that the drug’s effects are registered in the patient only when the drug is part of the ritual of treatment.
For centuries, people have practiced health-related therapies that may not pass modern-day clinical muster, meaning there are not randomized controlled trials that expressly…
