About the placebo effect was first discussed in the XVIII century, when the German doctors managed to cure the sick with tuberculosis using aspirin. The doctor gave him for the newest and most effective medicine. Since then, placebo were associated with self-suggestion. But recently scientists have presented evidence that the placebo effect from conscious suggestion is not affected.

In one of German clinics in the XVIII century TB patients during the month was told that opened new, sensational cure for their illness, which heals better than any currently known to the drug. The doctors told them about it every day, in paints describing good chances for recovery. The remedy, according to them, were to deliver a month later. And now, after 30 days sick announced that a miracle cure from the minute we arrived.

Finally "newest drug" was brought to the clinic. Tablets distributed, and all patients drank course miracle cures that really gave a striking effect: 80 percent of patients recovered. That's just a little clarification - "the newest and perfect drug" was actually an ordinary aspirin, which has no effect on the course of such serious diseases as tuberculosis.

The essence of this phenomenon, called the placebo effect, doctors formulated so: placebo (from lat. placebo - recover) is a chemically inert substance, not to have therapeutic properties, but which have significant therapeutic effect on the patient. The placebo effect until recently was associated with the suggestion of a kind of auto-training. It was believed that human health is improving because he believed in the efficacy of a drug or procedure that is actually neutral.

Since the middle Ages were known terrible torture and even execution, during which the person did not inflict any real damage. For example, a prisoner was blindfolded and announced that they would cut the throat (cut veins). Then the executioner spent sharp object at the specified place, and his assistants throwing at hand or throat unfortunate warm water, so that it seemed that he bleed. Unbelievable, but from such influence people often die! And the picture of death exactly resembled death from blood loss. This effect "malicious suggestion" later called the " nocebo " effect.

However, quite recently, scientists have found proof "unawareness" placebo " and the " nocebo " effect. A group of scientists from the Main hospital Massachusetts together with experts from Harvard medical school has shown that the placebo effect is based on the unconscious brain work. Their paper "Unconscious activation placebo - and the " nocebo " responses to pain" (Nonconscious activation of placebo and nocebo pain responses) was recently published in the journal PNAS. The brain decides how it will affect us this or that medicine, even before information about this medicine is recognized, the researchers said.

In clinical and laboratory practice have been accumulated to date, many of the facts that put in doubt conscious of the nature of the effects of placebo and the " nocebo". Many suggested that these can occur without the conscious processing of visual or verbal stimuli. Often the improvement or deterioration of health occurred in patients as if automatically, without conscious acceptance of the idea that the drug or procedure should have an impact on them. In such situations tomography showed that the visual and verbal stimuli are processed by the brain of these people below dosazitelnost levels in the striatum (striatum), which is part of the evolutionary older bishalnagar hemispheres, as well as in subcortical amygdala. Experiments performed by the authors of the study confirmed the hypothesis that the brain "decides" on the impact of a drug unconsciously - even before we carefully analyze the information about it.

In the experiments was attended by 40 healthy volunteers, 24 women and 16 men. The average age of the subjects was 23 years. At the first stage of the experiment to hand each Respondent attached a heating element that generated the volunteers pain signals of different intensity. Participants were asked to rate the intensity of their pain on a 100-point scale, while viewing on screen pictures of the people, some of which depicted on the face of the weak, and other severe pain.

Study participants did not know that the temperature of the heating element throughout experiments remained unchanged. Despite the fact that the thermal effect on the skin was the same, the level of pain were highly correlated with the images on the pictures, that is depended on associative suggestion caused by picture "strong" or "weak" pain. Pain (recall that in reality absolutely identical), subjects were evaluated in average by 19 points, when they saw the man, depicting the face of weak pain (placebo effect), and on 53 points, when I saw your face, highly distorted painful grimace (the " nocebo " effect).

In the second stage of the experiment was repeated with the only change: pictures of people experiencing pain of varying intensity, volunteers demonstrated within only 12 milliseconds, that is strobe mode, which does not allow to recognize and, moreover, to analyze facial expression. And again, scientists could observe an obvious placebo effect or the " nocebo", a little weaker, but nevertheless expressed. Participants who were unable neither to see nor to analyze the flickering on the screen picture, evaluated your pain on the average on 25 points, when in front of them in strobe mode flashed the picture of the man, representing a slight pain, and on 44 points, if they showed distorted grimace severe pain in the face.

It turns out that the mechanism placebo and the " nocebo " effect regardless of awareness Guinea face, causing his signals. "This is automatic and more fundamental than persuasion and conscious expectation, the mechanism that regulates our reactions and behavior. It is also important that, using this experimental model in combination with functional MRI-mapping the brain, we can further explore the placebo effect" - says one of the authors of the article kun Jian.

In confirmation of these findings recently received information from biologist Peter Trimmer from the University of Bristol. According to Trimmer, something like the placebo effect is found in many animals. Here's someone you hardly accessible lectures on the benefits of the latest drug and prospects of recovery! However, Siberian hamsters living in cells with a light modeling seasons-winter, summer, immunity is much worse during "short light day" and "the long winter nights". But it is necessary to change the mode of illumination on the opposite, and the immunity of animals starts to work much more.

Revealing the mechanism placebo, researchers could create a highly efficient and harmless medicines of new generation, which will not be based on the direct interference in the work of various systems of the organism, and at the start of protective scenarios at the level of the brain.