The Placebo Effect has been common knowledge sine the 1920s. Patients are given a pill or injection that is actually a harmless, inert substance, but they are told that it is a remedy for their illness. Various studies have shown that a significant percentage of patients do experience an improvement in the symptoms. The conclusion is that for these patients (sometimes as high as a third) it is their expectations that produce the improvements in their condition.
What is less well known is that the opposite is just as true!
The Nocebo Effect is the opposite of the Placebo Effect. If a patient expects their condition to worsen - then for a significant percentage this is what will happen.
So in the Information Age, when you are diagnosed with heart disease symptoms your first action is to search the internet.
But what do you find?
Heart disease statistics and studies reporting how many people die of heart disease each year.
Diagrams and photographs showing the cause of heart disease and how it will progress and block your arteries.
Conflicting information about the effectiveness of certain drugs.
etc. etc.
Yes, the majority of the information is true, BUT, due to its very nature it is causing you to have a negative expectation of your future quality of life and your chances of survival.
This would be bad enough if you were in a positive state of mind when you first saw the information. However if you have recently been diagnosed with heart disease, then this is highly unlikely. So not only are you being bombarded with negative information, you are digesting it when you are already in a vulnerable state.
And it doesn't end there! Your family and friends also search the Internet for facts about Heart Disease and see the same information. They come to the same negative conclusions as you, and whether consciously or subconsciously, treat you as though you are going to get worse rather than better.
So unless you change these expectations, you will start to view every symptom of heart disease, every news item, every bit of hearsay, as back up to your negative beliefs, and over the coming weeks and months you will reinforce your doubts and fears. This in turn will have an effect on your physiology, which will then become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
So how do you overcome this situation?
Well let's be honest, you are never going to be able to avoid the facts and statistics. But you can change how you perceive this information.
If X% of people with Heart Disease die within a certain period of time, then that means that the others must live way beyond that time! - YOU!
Instead of viewing heart disease symptoms as something that is going to reduce your quality of life, consider the diagnosis as a "Wake Up Call" to value every day.
Instead of thinking of heart disease as something that will defeat you, decide to defeat it!
Instead of being passive and giving up, learn about all the ways that you can improve your health and start your life over again!
Some people can do this by will power - just the decision to live life to the full is enough to keep them focused on the positive. But most of us need more than willpower. Luckily over the last couple of decades many techniques have been developed that will enable you to change your focus. There are several courses available, but most of these techniques can easily be learnt from books or CDs. Take advantage of these techniques and start living life to the full again today.
It's Your Heart
It's Your Life
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