The placebo effect is seemingly undermined, minuscule, and invaluable in the medical field and individual routes of treatment. However, although appearing to be a breach of legitimacy and a placeholder in medical science, each placebo effect is the summation of complex mechanisms of the brain and has been continuously researched; serving as a depiction of the abstract connections made by the human brain. Neuroscientific findings have illustrated the presence of multiple neurochemical mediators including dopamine and opioids, particularly the pain-suppressive endogenous opioid system. This system releases glutamate, an excitatory neurotransmitter, and substance P, a neuropeptide, both of which can relieve and moderate pain responses in the body. The expectation of health betterment associated with the placebo, is often the catalysts of endorphins, the body’s pain relief.
A prominent experiment done by researchers at the University of Melbourne has also demonstrated the prominent links between the brainstem, placebo effects, and even nocebo effects, which act inversely. They brought 27 participants, including both men and women at an average age of 23. They established a state of moderate pain on the skin of the arm using heat and informed the participants that they would apply one of 3 creams; a pain reducer, inducer, and control substance. About one-third found decreased pain when experiencing the “pain reliever,” and half of those with a pain increase reported such. When scanned with a magnetic resonance imaging machine (MRI), the placebo effect sparked activity in the rostral ventromedial medulla, an area that is critical for pain modulation and requires opioid activity. In contrast, the placebo found less activity in the periaqueductal gray, which acts in pain suppression, emotional processing, and even defense behaviors. The nocebo, however, which seemingly increased pain sensations, inversely impacted the depiction of brain activity.
These results illustrate Placebo and Nocebo effects to perform impacts on the brain deceptively. However, these complicated responses express the mystery and complexity of the brain and pain responses themselves, sparking the brains of researchers to continuously work towards knowing themselves.
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