What is the Placebo Effect?

In a scientific study, a placebo is a non-active treatment given to the recipient so that they don't know whether or not they are receiving the real treatment. This helps scientists to differentiate between the changes that occur due to the treatment, and the changes that occur when a person thinks they're receiving the treatment. If the difference is large enough, the scientists can say that the real treatment does have an effect as compared to the placebo. 

The placebo effect is the idea that "your brain can convince your body a fake treatment is the real thing" - it's the idea where if you believe something will make you better, it actually might. The placebo effect also shows up in the way your practitioner presents your treatments. If you doctor has confidence and speaks clearly and positively about your outcomes, you are more likely to have a positive outcome of the treatment.

In some cases, the placebo effect is used to dismiss the measurable effects of something that the speaker doesn't understand or respect - like reiki. They will imply that the only benefits of reiki come from the calming space and presence of the practitioner, and not from the energy itself. 

Why does it matter?

There are a lot of things in the universe that science has yet to explain - including how Tylenol works. Even though we don't know how it works, I'm still going to take Tylenol when I have a headache or a broken bone. Not knowing how it works doesn't really matter to me. What matters is that it relieves my pain. 

There may be an element of the placebo effect going on with Tylenol. I know that it works, so I start to feel better, even before the medicine has entered my system. This effect isn't that different from the times you begin to relax as soon as you sit in the stylist's chair, or when you begin to cry as soon as your therapist says hello (I hope I'm not the only one that happens to...), or when you feel the love in a sweater made by a caring family member. 

If you go to a lovely room, with gentle lighting, soft music, and a comfy table with cozy blankets for your reiki session, you get all the benefits of that room, on top of the benefits of the reiki itself. This scenario is the one that people often think of when they say reiki is nothing more than the placebo effect. 

See, here's the thing: if I spend an hour with a person in a lovely room, where they express care for me and gently place their hand on me, and I walk away feeling better, does the actual source of healing matter? 

Personally, I've come to believe that all healing is good and valuable, no matter the source. 

Reiki is more effective than placebo or 'sham' reiki

Now this is the cool part. In my blog What the Heck is Reiki?, I shared a study about rats who showed lower heart rates in response to stress when they received reiki than the rats who received placebo reiki. That's cool! 

And it's not just in rats, and it's not just in one study. In fact, this study on patients on ventilators showed lower pain rates, this study showed lower postoperative pain rates after dental surgery, this study showed reiki is more effective in reducing the pain, anxiety, and stress levels of cancer patients, all as compared to sham reiki!

You can head to PubMed yourself and look up more studies to see how often reiki out performs the placebo (sham reiki) in reducing pain, anxiety, stress, and depression in all sorts of cases. 

Ok but...

But what about when I say I'm going to get some reiki and the office bully says "that's all just a made up placebo effect. Why are you wasting your money?" 

Well, that's really up to you. Here's a few different approaches to this kind of question

1.  The calm teacher vibes "I understand why you’d say that - reiki can sound unusual if you haven’t experienced it. The placebo effect is actually a form of the mind–body connection, which reiki also works through. Even if part of the benefit comes from relaxation and positive focus, that’s still healing energy at work."

2. The chill scientist "There’s more to it than placebo. Studies show reiki can lower blood pressure, slow heart rate, and reduce perceived pain - all linked to activation of the body’s rest-and-digest system. That’s not imaginary; it’s physiology."

3. The unapologetic sass "Call it placebo, call it energy, call it whatever - all I know is, I walk out of a session feeling like a whole new human. When’s the last time your skepticism made you feel that good?"

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