The mysteries and potency of the mind/body connection are perfectly encapsulated in the very real existence of the placebo effect. Placebos often perform almost as well as active drugs in clinical trials, and threaten to undermine the credibility of drug research (read a summary of the latest research). Placebos produce measurable results any fan of the movie What the Bleep Do We Know? will appreciate: thoughts have been shown to trigger the release of painkilling endorphins, and of tremor-reducing dopamine in people with Parkinson's disease. The phenomenon is stronger for some conditions and medications than others; diazepam often doesn't work for anxiety unless you know you're taking it and morphine works significantly better when a person knows it's being administered to alleviate pain. There's even talk of using the placebo effect to reduce the needed dose of some painkillers-a worthy goal, but by no means the most exciting potential application for placebos.

What's fascinating about the placebo effect has nothing to do with drugs; the big news-and what should be the focus of research-is the amazing untapped potential for using the mind to heal. I'm upset my colleagues in internal medicine would actually consider giving drugs like antibiotics with potential serious side effects as a way of tricking their patients into using the placebo effect. Why not simply teach a patient to use biofeedback or meditation to improve a medical condition with the power of thought? (See Chapter One of my book, The Source, for many more ideas on how to do this.) While most of us are not yet ready to use thought therapy instead of a needed medical treatment, I encourage all of my patients to use their complex and beautiful mental powers to help their body return processes to normal.

I love recent work on the placebo effect by my friend, researcher Ted Kaptchuk of Harvard Medical School. In April he published a study of Irritable Bowel Syndrome comparing three groups: one group received sham (or fake) acupuncture, which is an ideal model for a placebo treatment; a second group was given sham acupuncture (the placebo) combined with lots of care and attention from medical practitioners; and the third group was simply placed on a waiting list for the study. Both placebo groups improved more than the waiting list group, but the improvement in the placebo group who felt listened to and cared for by medical practitioners was so dramatic it was equivalent to positive trial results for drugs commonly used to treat the condition.

This study comparing placebos truly demonstrated the healing power in the doctor-patient relationship, as well as the potential for one's perception and feelings about the quality of medical care to produce positive physical changes. Perhaps it's not just your mind that works as a placebo, but the energy others put into the treatment that confers its potency. Kaptchuk suggests scrapping the idea of placebo and thinking in terms of "contextual healing," which refers to the healing produced by what takes place during the clinical encounter when you are sitting in your doctor's consult room discussing your treatment plan.

Doctors have the potential to plant a seed of healing with positive thought. The controversy shifts if you think of the placebo in those terms. It should be considered inadequate if a doc doesn't take advantage of the placebo effect by encouraging patients to use their minds to increase the chance of a positive outcome. On the flip side we know negative comments (nocebos) can make people worse. Shame on docs who go negative!

There are creative ways to use the mind to heal, and mindful ways to interact with people who need to utilize every resource at their disposal to get better. Let's use placebos, but let's think of them as healing vibrations set off by positive thought patterns, not fake pills that trick the patient into feeling better. My New Year's resolution: to empower every patient's treatment plan with a placebo and a prayer.