Derek Thompson

So instead of a belief that hurt me, I picked a belief that served me.

So Ted Kaptchuk is a researcher at Harvard, and he studies IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

And he gave patients, he's been researching placebos for decades, he gave his patients who were suffering from IBS a bottle of pills, and he told them, this is a placebo.

It says placebo on the bottle.

In fact, you can buy on Amazon right now, if you search placebo pills, you can buy these type of pills right now.

And you can see five-star reviews of people saying how it provided fast-acting relief.

It's amazing.

So Dr. Kapschuk gives his patients this bottle that says placebos.

He tells them, the phrasing is important.

He says, this is a placebo.

It has no active ingredients.

However, it has been shown to help some people with the symptoms of IBS.

That was a critical statement.

And it turns out that in this study, those placebos were as effective as the leading medication at relieving people's suffering.

So much so that after the study, some of his patients, some of the people in this study called Dr. Kaptchuk and said, Dr. Kaptchuk, I really need some more of those placebo pills.

They were incredibly effective.

How can I get some more?

And so why is this happening?

Well, it comes down to the power of anticipation.

That based on what the brain believes is going to happen, we talked about earlier how the brain sees reality through this prediction.