Did You Ever Experience Placebo Effect ?

[sakoz]

You do everyday. You don't recognize doing it. The 'Placebo Effect' is the classic example of NOT RECOGNIZING BELIEVING (false) THOUGHT. That's the criterion for placebo/nocebo effects;
"not recognizing believing thought".     'Stress' is a very common nocebo effect.
Some people claim 'job stress'; yet someone else doing the same job claim they love it; why the discrepancy? Obviously the 'stress' is not caused by the job per se. The job is a cue to think about.
I'm amazed when someone claims job stress and files a law suit, and WINS. They get compensated for what they do to themselves. What are the judges thinking?
We know the effects of growing up in  highly stressful, adverse environments, in dysfunctional families or other care givers. Studies reveal a percentage of young people who 'rise above' such conditions to become psychologically healthy, responsible adults -  without outside intervention. Again, it's the quality of thinking that made the difference.

There's more to it than positive or negative thinking.
Those who grew up in hostile, adverse environments, dysfunctional familes, etc. unscathed  by such experience/treatment. Indicate there's a natural psychological healing process analogous to physical healing, except that the psychological healing can be overridden and so is hindered from 'operating'; seemingly inactive, dormant in almost everyone, except the few.

If you find "not recognizing doing it", hard to believe; do you recognize when you snore? How about sleeping? When you wake up, you know you been sleep, you recognize 'after the fact', not during.

[sakoz]

Search the web for  'Stress Scale" and see "experts" rate events 'stress causing' rather than recognizing that it's the "thoughts about the events". 
They never heard of Epictitus, let alone read what he wrote.? "It's not the facts that disturb us but our thoughts about them". Elementary,but not to those 'experts'.

[sakoz]

About ten months ago, I came to this site with the question; "How Do We Believe Thoughts?" I expected collaboration, but did not happen .(yet). I add another relevant question;
"How To Recognize Believing Thoughts Before  Reacting To Them?"  Thoughts per se are harmless/inert  (as the inert pills used in the placebo effect). It's BELIEVING they are true,real that causes consequences/results/ effects. Let's use extreme examples of bizarre thoughts to make the point. Some people say aliens are after them,or they hear voices coming from light bulbs.etc.
The thoughts themselves are innocuous unless/untill BELIEVED.  Let's now look at more common thoughts, those that cause stress. They too must be 'believed' before they are reacted to by our involuntary nervous system.  "Believing" is virtually magic or creative, ( I prefer the latter).  'Believing' is analogous to the 'King Midus Touch' or Rumpelstiltskins ability to spin straw into gold.
Our brain can convert 'formless energy' into original thoughts in the manner of E=mc2. We also store thoughts, our own and from others, in memory; and recycle them in 'similar' situations.
Sometimes they don't 'fit', history does not always repeat itself, but by using 'used' thoughts we act like we believe it does. (Using used thoughts is like buy clothes 'off the rack' rather than tailor made. It's faster in emergencies.)
You may not believe (yet) that there are two source of thoughts. 1. Creating new ones(tailoring to fit). 2. Recycling used ones from memory/repertoire, (some are synthesized, appearing new).
We have the habit of accessing memory the way animals rely on instincts. (preprogrammed reactions).
If you believe 'solutions' are outside of you, that very belief diverts you from looking inside. Then you rely on conditioned/programmed reactions.

[sakoz]

When I post, I read what I post and gain insight, I hope readers do also.For example, yesterday I wrote;"The placebo effect is a classic example of not recognizing believing a thought and reacting to it." - Is that a principle or habit? Lets look at the effect of that "principle/habit" in other contexts. A reader here , at this site, wrote that I am insane. Another wrote that I seek 15 minutes of recognition. Neither recognized their 'believed opinions'and reacted to them as if to facts, I recognized them as 'thoughts' and did not react to them as they did, I did not take their opinions personally nor seriously; I just observed their 'performance to their scripts'.
Look at your own life when you had a arguement or a 'milder disagreement'. Not recognizing what's going on, emotions are aroused,etc. If you only get one thing from my posts, let it be that you can remain 'cool/calm' while others perform their habit of reacting to their own thoughts as if they were really facts, visible to others.They will be puzzled why your not "hooking into" their performance, after all, it 'takes two to tango'; and they need a partner.
Can you accept that 'thoughts' are artifacts we make and use? If so, then "infer behind the scenes" where they are formed or some accessed/retrieved for use. By recognizing two source of thoughts, and recognizing when someone uses conditioned believed thoughts and that you 'favor' memory thoughts more often than original ones; you can stay calm and not react 'knee-jerk- fashion as is so common.
My third question; "Can we correctly infer 'how' thoughts are believed?' Look at the 'progress' in electronics as a result of correctly inferring submicroscopic atomic level, that's just as invisible as where we form thoughts or from where we access recycled thoughts.

[sakoz]

'Part' of us is 'hard-wired' to react to perceptions;- regardless of whether the perceptions are correct/true or false. We can call that 'part' our involuntary.
Are perceptions as infallible as (mistakenly) believed? We react (involuntarily) to perceptions (of any ilk) as if they are absolutely reliable. (even those that cause stress).
Perceptions are constructed by our brain, therefore they are as much artifacts as thoughts. Our brain produces perceptions as well as thoughts. Both 'products' are fallible.
Lets not settle for poor quality ones. We're not in a soup-line where we must accept whatever is being served.
We are inherently capable of using a natural intelligence that emerges through thoughts as insight/aha. Much of our thinking is unobservable, we can infer what's going on 'behind the scenes' much like electronic engineers do about the sub-atomic level. When we do not understand subliminal thinking, we are at the mercy of the effects. We cannot escape the effects.
We recognize and experience the effects as emotional suffering, dysfunctional behavior , stress, etc. Or if we learn to influence that level, we experience happiness, well being, etc.