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Placebo effect vs reality
Link | by Sturm on 2005-11-03 08:42:29
I was just thinking this:

ok if we have a baby and we decide to pound into his/her brain that... he/she can see things in the dark that dont exist and we all pretend to see things like people - (then we make up some non sense that sounds logical) - will that child (that has no interatction with any others who are in this experiment) actually see people that can interact with her like if we make up someone that beats us up and we make him/her believe that it's really there will she get bruises from hallucinations she sees?

"Empires rise and fall, but evil is eternal"

Re: Placebo effect vs reality
Link | by gendou on 2005-11-03 11:06:37
qua? this is a psychology question. thread moved to proper topic.


Re: Placebo effect vs reality
Link | by tsukiniji on 2005-11-03 20:26:55
Er...you mean whether she'll get actual physical injuries from something she is convinced that she saw?

I'm guessing on my meagre biology knowledge here: normally, probably not. The body could, however, react by inflammation of the site where she thought she was injured. That in turn could damage local tissues and might turn up as a rash. If this goes on long enough, blood vessels might be damaged enough to show up as a bruise.

But I have to stress that it is very difficult to get to that stage just by power of mind alone.

The other thing is, if she's already hallucinating, she might see herself as injured whereas others will not.

Re: Placebo effect vs reality
Link | by S-a-c-h-i-e-l on 2005-11-03 21:12:40
It would depend on how powerful the hallucinations were.


Re: Placebo effect vs reality
Link | by zparticus27 on 2005-11-04 06:14:40
ah thats a though one... im no psyc major but based on my psyc1 knowledge...no..since a placebo effect only works if the person truly accepts the effect given by the placebo...and besides if the answer is yes...how come children seeing imaginary friends dont have that kind of physical interaction...well better ask a psyc major...

Re: Placebo effect vs reality
Link | by Sturm on 2005-11-04 09:10:33
but if we make him/her believe since birth that the imaginary person is real but invisible and if we act he is then what's stopping him/her from truly believeing it since we taught her everything he/she knows

"Empires rise and fall, but evil is eternal"

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