I guess most of you are familiar with Placebo effects and for those who don't know, it is when there's an observable improvement to a person condition without any "actual" medical assistance or in some rare cases when the doctors failed but still the patient turned-out well and got healed, religious people may call this a miracle given by God and some may say it's a "Placebo Effect" resulted from a strong feeling of hope.
According to Professor Ted Kaptchuk of Harvard
"The placebo effect is more than positive thinking — believing a treatment or procedure will work. It's about creating a stronger connection between the brain and body and how they work together"
It's more like a Psychological treatment, positive thinking would result in a positive outcome, guess this not only works when talking about goals and success but also critical in our health. The constant belief and hope for healing would result in actual relief.
Our brain is very powerful, aside from its ability to create, remember, perceive, and swift processing of information it can also heal ourselves just by thinking about it. But with such power but lack of resolution could lead to a backlash.
What am I'm going to talk about now is the opposite of the Placebo Effect, the Nocebo Effect. While the former would make you feel a lot better just by having an optimistic mind then the latter makes your condition worse. The Nocebo effect aligns with the idea of "Negative thinking leads to a negative outcome".
These are the factors that may result in a Nocebo Effect that we can relate to the Covid-19 vaccine.
The rumored side effects
Trust of the vaccine
The Rumored Side Effects and Trust to the vaccine
There are so many rumors about the scary side effects of the Covid-19 vaccine circulating in social media instilling fear in the masses, and John is one of them. But the company where John is working required him to get them vaccinated, though scared John doesn't have a choice. When it's about his time to take the dose, the vaccine he's supposed to be taking run out of supply and need to take the other available which was produced from the country he hated the most, he's a bit hesitant to take the dose, but as I said he don't have a choice.
The next day he felt headaches (which is normal because John's body is building protection) and he's already getting apprehensive of what might happen and the fact that he doesn't trust the vaccine, anxiety dwells inside his mind. And on the second day, he's getting delirious because the headache is still there, he's thinking "Will this turned out into a scary side effect just like what I've seen on Facebook the other day???" "Am I going to become a Titan? a Zombie? a Donkey? Or am I going to die with this??" And what was just supposed to be a mild headache, John is now experiencing shivering chills, shortness of breath, fatigue, sweating and pounding of the heart, and the hallucinations all caused by his extreme anxiety and delirium which also resulted in him not functioning well to his work.
The body will always react based on what we think, may it be consciously waving your hands, moving your fingers, rolling your eyes to subconsciously breathing in and out. That's why it's extremely important what kind of information you put into it. Always seek the truth behind those rumors. Choose carefully whom to believe, will you believe in the doctors and scientists that have gone through a lot of strict clinical trials or will you just believe from the rumors and gossips of your neighborhood?
Lead image source
It pays to have a positive thinking. Believe that you will be better and you will be. Attract the positive energy of the universe.