How to use the placebo effect to (actually) feel better
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- čas přidán 5. 09. 2024
- The placebo effect is way weirder than you think.
This video is not sponsored, and I imagine it might be quite effective at ensuring none of my future videos are either. I genuinely do think Nebula is a great deal - and you can get 40% off an annual subscription when you sign up via my link: go.nebula.tv/m.... This video has already been up there for 3 weeks!
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References
Coloured pills pubmed.ncbi.nl...
Italian men link.springer....
Coloured packaging pubmed.ncbi.nl...
Four times a day placebo more effective than twice a day for duodenal ulcers www.ncbi.nlm.n...
From Latin poetry to sham surgery: A history of placebos By Amir Imani www.canadianhe...
Honest placebo (IBS) journals.plos....
Honest placebo (back pain) journals.lww.c...
Overdose on placebo (nocebo) pubmed.ncbi.nl...
Fear and fentanyl misinformation www.medpagetod...
Article about cops accidentally overdosing www.washington...
Arthroscopy landmark trial www.nejm.org/d...
Fake pacemakers jamanetwork.co...
Neural mechanism of pain and placebo • Howard Fields, MD, PhD...
Music
Puppy Love (Sting) by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. creativecommon...
Artist: www.twinmusicom...
This video is not sponsored, and I imagine it might be quite effective at ensuring none of my future videos are either. I genuinely do think Nebula is a great deal - and you can get 40% off an annual subscription when you sign up via my link: go.nebula.tv/medlifecrisis.
I wonder if this video will cause any "metacebo" - People becoming healthier from the realization itself that such a thing is possible, lol
Unsure if I wanna watch the remaining hour of this when 11 minutes in you've given a partial pass to predatory practices like Reiki. I thought you were a science-based medicine advocate!
The deal was so good I already bought it two years ago :P
Thank you for your service in educating as many as possible. You create more international economic value with this video than any sponsor could compensate!
Mate you need sponsorship from Manscape or whatever shaving company.
He finally remembered his YT password
😂😂
but he forgot his beard
"placebo" ... but don't tell anybody!
@@andrewdunbar828 no it s "ChubbyEmuSucks" :)
he needed to wait for a full beard to then shave it in stages while recording the script in reverse.
Not that I doubt doctor's ability to go from baby skin to dense fur in 2 weeks tops 😅
It's amazing how a simple shave can transform you from a slightly unripe grandfather of an entire industry, into a baby faced upstart putting a bit too much effort to look 100% chill while trying to "invite you to have a chat over lunch, his treat" but you know perfectly well the "chat" is gonna be a tag team high pressure sales pitch for a timeshare.
😂😂
And, somewhere in the middle, the perfect face of an old-fashioned placebo grift.
Psychologist: Neil DeRohin Francis doesn't exist, he can't hurt you.
Neil DeRohin Francis: 3:21
I was listening to the video, why'd you make me look, i would have been spared
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh
Nightmarish stuff
@@creshiell No one gets spared by Neil DeRohin Francis 👁👁
I love the mock sponsor segments. You really nailed the vocabulary and tone/body language of someone doing these extremely common ad reads that you see pretty much everyone do.
I literally got an ad for Better Help right after his "sponsored segment" about their lack of data protection 😅
Oh my god I actually skipped through them because I thought they were real. I'm an idiot
when he said don't let anyone touch your PNS, i truly felt that
I'm so conditioned to skip ads I didn't watch any and was about to make a snarky comment about the irony of having better help as a sponsor. I'm happy my dumbass read your comment beforehand lol.
@@Deathhead68 I just did it the other way around on a previous video I was watching, Tom Nicholas had a video on grifts where he had a recurring bit pretending to do an ad for various grifts and at some point there was an ad for an ACTUAL grift that I only realized after it was done that it wasn't part of the video (it helps that I was mostly listening and only half-watching the video and working on the side).
23:44 "If you find this implausible, because cops are tough and surely wouldn't be so physically paralysed by fear, some kids in Uvalde Texas might disagree." Holy mother of God, that was brutal.
I had to stop the video because I was laughing so hard.
#murderedbywords also at r/murderedbywords
A surgeon with a precision cutting remark. Could not have been better.
Comtext for friends in europe?
@@ChefJollyRoger Uvalde Texas Mass School Shooting. 376 police on scene before breaching the building to attempt to stop the shooter 75 minutes after the lone shooter began killing 4th graders.
As someone else with chronic pain, I really appreciate you being willing to discuss it from a physician's perspective. I have encountered far too many medical professionals who seem to view it as a moral failing.
Second, you may not need our money directly thanks to your salary, but we assume you reinvest into your content creation - whether it be support staff, better equipment, or something else. So in a way, we're helping ourselves when we support you.
"Ah 'Chronic pain' - so which one is it? Did you neglect your body, are you too weak to handle the normal pains of life, or are you looking for drugs?"
Thank you so much, that’s very generous of you and much appreciated 🙏
@@MedlifeCrisis I know it's controversial, but don't dismiss exogenous opioids. For example, my physician prescribes me 15 pills per month of Norco 5/325 (hydrocodone and paracetamol). When I have extreme pain, I first take 30 MG dextromethorphan (free base, NOT hbr) - which increases the efficacy of opioid analgesia - and then take 1-2 pills depending on the severity of the pain and the need for my ability.
Of course tolerance and addiction are concerns. But managed properly, the pros are worth the cons. I've been on this regimen since 2016. I still get therapeutic benefits and have avoided addiction so far.
Most days you still lay on the floor and endure the pain - but if there's a situation where you HAVE to be at your best, there's an alternative. You just have to be mindful of the pharmacology and remember it's a temporary solution.
I consider the dextromethorphan essential - in my experience it increases the efficacy by 20% or more. Maybe that's also placebo - but there's research to indicate otherwise.
Finally, I don't understand the physiology of your circumstance - but my pain descends down the right side of my scrotum (was originally mistaken for inguinal hernia) and also down my right leg. I use an inversion table - but only secured by my right leg. The traction seems to provide both short-term and long-term relief.
Based on what you described in the video, I feel like rigging up some sort of cuff which allows you to suspend your entire body from your affected arm might be useful.
Finally, depending on the location of the pain, I will sometimes do intramuscular (or similar) injections of lidocaine (sans epinephrine). Taking a sore spot and jamming a thin (27-31 ga) needle into it and pushing out a tiny amount of 1% or 2% lidocaine can sometimes provide relief for hours.
- not a medical professional. Just an engineer who hates having chronic pain.
@@PsRohrbaugh Could you "suspend your entire body" from that arm via a pullup bar and some time partly or fully hanging off it?
@@SpeedyThingGoIn4 I was about to say the same thing. Hanging on a bar or tree branch can a produce an immensly relieving traction for the shoulder joint, + spine, in my experience
Filming an hour long video in reverse order just for a beard joke. That's what I call commitment.
I’m convinced he can just grow facial hair that fast
I thought it was all fake facial hair
His facial hair growth will remain a mystery
OMG. I'm at level 4 and you've blown my mind.
I was fully expecting a spoof of the Simon beard club thing.
It wasn't filmed in reverse order
I remember when I was at work one day and I thought to myself: "Wow, I haven't felt anxious or have had a panic attack in ages, I'm actually getting better". I got a panic attack soon thereafter because I was stupidly trying to remember how it felt like. The brain is weird
I've had the same experience with stuttering as a child. One day I was pretending to stutter like I used to, to demonstrate the change, and then I started stuttering for real again. Whoops!
Huh, should that be called "auto-triggering"? Hope it was a one-time regression!
@@aelolul oof, hope you remember that you can do it! I believe in you! I don't stutter, but I've always had trouble getting words from my brain to my mouth, probably something to do with my ADHD, so I empathise with the condition. We are all trying to get through this life together, I wish you well.
@@JobvanderZwan Unlike you snobs my PTSD is fully automatic.
A comedian pretending to be a doctor,
or a doctor pretending to be a comedian?
Either way, you're doing amazing job!
He's just regressing to the meme.
Or was that digressing to the mean..
At the very least, it was distressing to the jeans
A doctor pretending to be a Wild West gunslinger. He's sporting quite the Wyatt Earp mustache a few minutes in.
He's not actually funny, it's just the placebo effect.
@@iankrasnow5383 Are you sure that's not nocebo?
Why can't he be both, though?
The straightforward mockery of every major CZcams sponsorship brand...
The brilliant editing resulting the illusion of facial hair growth. ( I'm assuming, you recorded the segments from last to first, every time shaving a part of your beard, a direct reference to Christopher Nolan's "Memento"🧐)...
What can I say that was a visual masterpiece. You sir deserve an Oscar.Not the real one... the placebo 😊
Proud subscriber of Nebula platform 🥇
I have Asthma. I am a volunteer patient at Nottingham respiratory research clinic. 5 years ago I took part if a double blind drug trial. The following day after the first injection I felt wonderful. My clinical test results improved by a third, I felt marvellous my breathing was much improved, I started exercising again. This drug I was taking was next door to a miracle . A year later when the results of the trial were announced I discovered I had been taking the placebo. The positive effect was astonishing and I don't consider myself to be the gullible type of person. I now take the drug I trialed and my Asthma is much better controlled but nowhere near as good as the placebo!
PS a slightly disturbing and not a little creepy video if I may say so. Many thanks very enjoyable.
Nothing to do with gullibility at all or intelligent. The placebo effects effects everyone. It's crazy. There's some incredible studies being done by David Spiegal showing that we have the capacity to change our own brain function through ritual. We can increase or decrease blood flow in our brain which has physical knock on effects to particular conditions that are all effected by the placebo effect. We are on an amazing precipes of neuroscientific knowlege
Why would you continue taking the drug then if you don't feel better on it as you did off it? Why not focus on meditation and positive thinking and honing your mind ?
@@out_spocken asthma has both a psychological and physical component. Feeling better and getting better are two different things that facilitate each other but are seperate.
@@therabbithat fair enough 👍 cheers
@@out_spockenbecause they said it was better than nothing, but not as good as the placebo effect…which has a genuine impact.
Both of my parents were GPs, sharing a practice in a tiny village (roughly 2000 inhabitants). From what I understand most of their patients had a "favorite" between the two of them. They retired a bit less than a decade a go, and had a little goodbye ceremony in the community center. At least, that was the plan, but hundreds of people showed up to say goodbye and thank you to them. They basically were shaking hands for hours.
And both of them agreed that they're glad they retired when they did, because in the last years they barely had time to be a proper doctor due to all the administration.
Good doctors have a huge impact on people's life. And most people recognise that. An acquaintance was a GP. He had to stop due to his poor health. Everywhere he goes in his little town, he is warmly greeted by patients.
I definitely experienced the nocebo effect. Went to pee, saw blood in the bowl, and a few minutes later I felt sick. Cold sweat, abdominal pain, the works. I was getting ready to go to the ER...
Then I found out that some family member had bought red toilet cleaner instead of the usual yellow...
Who on earth though red was a good colour for that?
@@DemstarAus color theory. works perfectly in a children's hospital
@@BlisaBLisa Interesting... How come?
Ha, something similar happened to me after I ate beets. I thought I had internal bleeding and I was freaking out. Turns out I just can't digest beets that well.
@@aelolul I had a "health scare" after eating beets once, too 😂
I cannot describe how much I enjoy everything in this video.
The visuals. The delivery. The sponsored segments. The face swaps.
And I'm just 11 minutes in!
🤯 I didn’t even notice that
The Neil DeGrasse Tyson part thoroughly creeped me out (3:10). I looked away for just a few seconds and got back to the video wondering what in the world was wrong with his face. Very well done.
I was legit worried I was hallucinating for a sec😭😭😭😭
i watched it back like 5 times to check if i was hallucinating. it freaked me the fuck out
I couldn't tell if it was his face, or an AI mashing his face up with NDT's
I found it kinda unnecessary actually. Like, why digitally copy-paste a Black man’s face onto your own? Creepy. Rest of the video was very good though.
@@kagitsuneHe copy-pasted a famous scientist's face over his own
For the longest time I believed a placebo couldn't work if you knew it was a placebo... but then I started to notice how the nocebo effect still works even when you know it's irrational and shouldn't. I get legit sympathy pains when my wife falls ill, all while I know it's just in my head.
Thanks for really bringing this revelation to life for me.
Sympathy pains suck. I feel your pain, no pun intended haha.
I usually feel it when I am in an icky place - I come out and I itch all over although I haven't touched anything
@@thesupergreenjudy I can get a similar thing if I feel dirty because I haven't showered in a while, like within an hour I can go from feeling fine to feeling itchy and uncomfortable. And it can also happen if I just showered if for some reason I think I didn't do it right. It doesn't matter that like I know it's not actually what's up and that it'll go away the moment I stop thinking about it.
@@thesupergreenjudy I wonder if feeling like bugs are crawling all over your skin and sometimes even biting me when I see a large amount of bugs in videos or learn about some bugs or even see some weirdo insect or invertebrate is the same thing too.
* Changes facial hair every five minutes *
"ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!"
This was recorded in reverse order!
This is why I appreciate my doctor not giving me a hard time about my evening primrose oil and black cohosh tea for perimenopause symptoms since I am not eligible for hormone replacement and there isn’t much she can do for me. I told her that it might be a placebo, but it makes me feel better, and she agreed. Tea’s nice and comforting anyway and it doesn’t hurt anything.
I'm down for some good ol' fashioned quack medicine, as long as there is no serious pathological issue. Don't treat your cancer with tea, but a bit of back pain from the muscular stresses of life? Sure.
Sounds like you've found a good balance. A way to relax you, a way to make the pain just a bit better, while not having a serious medical problem or not having access to evidence based medical treatment.
Question: What are those ritual videos on your channel? just curriuos
@@zeeraknasir6184oh, I’m involved in a pagan group, and during COVID quarantines, we had to meet over Zoom. We recorded our gatherings and put them on CZcams so people who couldn’t make it could watch them later.
It’s finally here, now I can share it with my non-Nebula friends. What a masterpiece.
I choose to believe you met these people on nebula, and only talk about nebula related stuff.
I'm convinced that the honest placebo thing is part of a bigger study trying to find out if you can make honest placebos work by publishing a study saying that they do. Very meta
OMG. That would probably work.
Perhaps. But wouldn't that hinge on knowing that knowing gives a placebo effect..?
When I was suffering from depression I made a point of eating a block of dark chocolate or having a bath with lavender oil. I like both and made it a ritual to make me feel better without having any belief in magical healing. It made me feel better and that became a virtuous circle - next time it worked even better.
I, too, use rituals to help with my depression. I know they are of no "real" benefit, but they make me feel better just the same. I'm glad you've found some that help you.
@@Starstuffpondering Sounds like a real benefit to me!
I tell myself before i take my vitmins they are actually wonder drugs that will make me calm and comfortable ever since i studied placebos in psychology. When i take paracetamol i dedicate time to making sure i really believe it is morphine (which I've never had)
Join a choir. Singing makes you feel better, because it releases endorphins, and so does being with other people and sharing an experience. When you’ve been in a choir for a while, you’ll discover you’re not the only one with a less than perfect life. But the singing makes everyone feeling better for at least a few hours a week.
Please only take my advice if you’re not tone deaf. In that case you wouldn’t be doing yourself or the choir any favours.
@@therabbithat fellow psych student, I do the same! I'm off my meds, so now I pretend my vit D pills are antidepressants. It helps that they look really pretty.
I love this video and the fact that you are one of the few CZcamsrs (medical and therapy CZcamsrs included) who speaks out against BetterHelp. I had 3 bad experiences there, and then I realised it's not actually therapy. Seeing BetterHelp sponsorship ads in the middle of videos is something I've come to dread now because it's so triggering for me.
Rohin, this is wonderful stuff. From the opening short-form snub, the non-ads, the deefake uncanny valley escapade, right through to the sneakily injected positive conclusion music, and of course ludicrous commitment to the reverse filming facial fuzz furore... well I applaud you. There was even thought-provoking and fascinating content hidden in there too! Just don't go trying to surpass this with you next video or I fear we may not see you for years.
Thumbs up for "reverse filming facial fuzz furore".
Dear Rohin, after watching the whole video I definitely experienced significant improvement with my chronic pain. This was the caring doctor effect :) Thank you.
Don't take more than three Rohin videos per day, always after meals.
May cause anxiety, insomnia from spending all night watching his great content, a desire for chocolate and a career in medical science
Now we need a clinical study to see if watching Rohin talk is more effective than not.
A video of a doctor a day keeps the doctor away
Look into Pain Reprocessing Therapy for chronic pain. Based on neuroplasticity. It works.
It’s like the Superbowl. The main content is good, but the advertisements are fantastic :) This is truly your best work! Thank you
This needs time stamps/chapters so we can jump straight to the ads
I was about 5 years old and I was playing in kindergarten. The teacher called me over and asked me what had happaned. I didn't understand, I was fine. She showed me my knees - both were bruised and bleeding. Only then I felt the pain and I cried. This case has fascinated me for a very long time afterwards.
Kids dont cry when injured unless someone is around to hear it. Fun, eh?
My 4 month old got scratched on the face by another baby at daycare recently. They said he was fine until they picked him up and started fussing over him, then he started screaming. I guess that behavior in children starts very early!
Working at a daycare, you learn very quickly that when a kid falls, even if your first response is to gasp and want to make sure they're okay, you have to stifle yourself and tell them "You're fine honey, stand back up" and they will be fine, and will stand back up. Of course sometimes they do feel bad enough pain to sometime cry and need a good hug on the ground and perhaps a little kiss before playtime resumes, but the vast majority of the time they fall, look right to you, you tell them they're fine, and they take your word for it and continue playtime. Humans are such funny little creatures :)
The same happened to me, I was 6 years old running (barefoot) with my cousins we were running for a long time. When we finally stopped they all were pointing at my foot in panic and I was confused why. When I looked down my foot was covered in blood and only after seeing the blood I started feeling the pain and couldn't even walk anymore (mind you I was running). It turned out I stepped into something sharp that created a deep wound I had to get it stretched.
@@RICDirector If a tree falls in a forest,
The gradual mustache evolution really takes the video above and beyond
I remember reading a New York Times article in the mid-90s about a placebo trial for bald men, and 30% grew hair. Amazing. The men in the trial thought it was a new injection drug for baldness.
CZcams: You wanna watch an hour long video?
Me: No, I don’t have the time.
CZcams: What if we break it up into a bunch of 30-second shorts that you watch in quick succession?
Me: I’m in.
I don’t see those shorts?
@@StoutProper Look harder
@@StoutProper Maybe he was wearing shorts?
My goodness, you are doing all these things with chronic pain! I hope very much you find the healing you give others, and I believe you will.
I simply think that my autoinmune system is better than everyone else's and that seems to help me cure diseases faster, obviously placebo but I do it knowingly
Hehe I do this one too
The "Schrute Technique"
Currently reassuring myself i dont have hay fever
You hacked the system
Literally, if I start feeling sick 9/10 times I can just say to myself "No, I'm not the kind of person to get sick" and it works 😅
Loved it. Thank you.
Oh hi there, it's an honor to see my favourite youtuber and with me being the first to reply
Oh hey, it's blue blob person. I like your videos.
I've had POTS for four years and my cardiologist looks at me with tears in his eyes sometimes because he can't help me. my GP has helped me find things in my life that I can control such as my diet and hobbies. we meet once every three months and put out the fires as they arise and the doctor-patient relationship is itself very helpful. it's not exactly placebo but it does show that there is more to medicine than medication.
Aw sounds like you have a great GP
What’s POTS?
@@StoutProper Probably Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS).
@@RedshiftDougal wtf is that?
@@StoutProper changes in heart rate (faster) when standing up, or getting up from a lying position.
I have no scientific higher education and I'm certainly no doctor but in my social education courses I was taught a lot about the importance of care by physically, mentally and empathically present caregivers. It stayed with me and I believe it has something to do with what you just explained about the doctor-as-a-medicine concept. Thank you for what you do :)
Also, while full of well-presented important information, this video is comedic art as well. You're an artist too.
Starring in a Chubbyemu videos with a "full recover" is akin to beating the hardest boss in life.
🤣🤣🤣
Haha, I’m a pharmacist and even though I know throat lozenges for cold don’t really do much compared to just any sugar lozenge I have a specific one of which I’m like ”THIS WILL CURE ME” and I always have them at hand for when I feel a cold coming 🤣
I heard that you really cannot control your brain. Close your eyes and think of the most intense movie and your brain picks it up crisply that can play the entire seen almost 100% accurate. It was when I realized the power but stubborn power. To cheat it is to do Ju jit su with it. Which is what you did. Love it.
the edit at 3:15 genuinely scared the shit out of me oh my god
You might be vaguely interested in my own experience with placebos. I once labelled a bottle of vitamin D with "Antidepressant placebo (with vitamin D)". I did this because I had had experience with Prozac, which was effective against depression but had a couple of side effects that I didn't like. I added the parenthesis because I did not want to cancel out the benefits of the vitamin D, via a potential nocebo effect.
So how did my homemade placebo work? Pretty decently -- about as well as St. John's Wort, and nearly as well as the Prozac. That is in spite of the fact that I considered, and did not do, mocking up and printing a medical-looking label. Even with the hand-printed label -- and the fact that I knew damn well that it was not a pharmaceutical antidepressant -- it was moderately effective.
Cool and interesting 😮
That is interesting, did you feel an effect from the vitamin D "antidepressant" immediately?In the past, I've taken different medications for depression and anxiety and always felt little or no effect from them. No side effects, thankfully, but no noticeable benefits either. Now I'm thinking of trying the vitamin D bottle trick to see if it'll work better 🙂
Here are a few things that helped me with my arm and back pain:
Upright handlebars on my bicycle. Wearing leather fingerless weight training gloves with a thick pad on the palm whilst driving in the car. Swimming. I think I was irritating some esoteric nerve (you probably know the name of) in my palm that caused a nagging pain from the middle of my back to my shoulder. Also, if you have heated seats in your car, turn on that function during your commute. I hope these suggestions are helpful.
@8pelagic610
Possibly you are looking at the wrong end of the nerve as the source of the pain - pressure on the spinal nerve junction that serves your brachyradial nerve, can produce pain, not only in the back and shoulder, but also along the arm into the hand causing you to clench your hands around the steering wheel too tightly, which the gloves you describe would lessen, as would the straight arm and back posture induced by the upright bike handlebars. There is also the elbow joint which harbours the brachyradial tunnel, pressure in which would be lessened when the arms are straight while cycling, rather than bent at the elbow while driving. Your heated driver's seat will help to relax your back muscles and help you heep your back straight while driving. Swimming is great excercise for almost any neurological and musculoskeletal pain. Physiotherapy, and checking if your seat position and height is optimally adjusted, may also help.
I perfectly agree with everything in this video regarding not trying to convince patients that their alternative therapies aren't working as long as they're not harmful. The only thing that breaks me is when people insist that their bogus therapy is working and try to convince me that it's evidence based. At that point I've had to tear them a new one. Not proud of it, but I'm only human.
I have to fight all my instincts when my familiy praises homeopathy. I want them to have all the maximum placebo effect, but it is so damn hard to shut it.
i'm about halfway through and already want to say this is just incredible. the writing is on point, the editing is crisp, and the countless little touches that are totally unnecessary are totally brilliant.
and of course, you have one of my all-time favorite gags, progressive beard changes. i just love it so much.
broke: recording segments in reverse order (shaving a bit each time)
woke: recording over 3 months (waiting for beard to grow)
A positive take on using placebo for its benefits is refreshing. I recently became interested in witchcraft and meditation. When I crush up resins and burn them according to what I’m looking for in that meditation, my meditation lasts longer and is much more powerful than if I just sat down and did it with no ritual. Def recommend
Rohin, this is by far my favourite video of yours. It covers a topic I myself am fascinated by and brought to light some aspects of the placebo effect that I had never considered before and can’t wait to research in my own time. That being said… 5 sponsored segments in a single video!? CZcams, Unplugging-Your-Modem, Parenthood, BetterHelpYourself, and Pre-existing Titles are sleazy companies that you know have little to no care for their customers and your viewers. Be better!
I think you're joking?
@@Sarcasticron They are joking, but simply didn't add an "/s"
One of the best videos I've watched recently. Really enjoyed the mock sponsors.
I'm a person who is deathly afraid of feeling queasy and throwing up, to the point where it can spiral into a panic attack. This is a small thing but I had to switch contraceptive pills recently (not just a different brand, but also different ingredients), so the possibility of nausea-related side-effects was stressing me out in the back of my mind. Finally, the day when I had to switch came and I knew that if I let my thoughts run away from me, I might be summoning some of those side-effects just by expecting them, so, instead, I put the new pills in the previous container, took a deep breath and decided to think of them as a new batch of the old ones. No problems so far. Yay, placebo effect!
Good thinking!!
While the thought of vomiting doesn’t bring me quite to panic attack level dismay… severe nausea will find me begging whatever powers in the universe to “please, I’d rather have three days of diarrhea”
My mum actually kept "Boo-Boo" Pills in our meds cabinet, product is clearly labeled as a sugar pill and intended to help young kids over scraped knee level injuries. I find it cute, even if I prefer medically unnessary bandaids and the very weak arnica cream
The production values in this video are outstanding! :)
Not even 6 minutes in and we've got guest appearances from Neil Degrasse Tyson and Vsauce!
This is absolutely fascinating Rohin, thank you. As a social anthropologist who is, in part, an expert in ritual, it's fascinating to see this explored from a medical perspective.
I have long wondered about the prospect about setting up a type of "complementary medicine" that relies on the honest placebo principle. Rather than rely on flummery or junk science that overstates or flat out lies about the mechanisms of what takes place, it would instead hinge on basically using psychological principles to help people feel better, honestly disclosing to patients that this is how the practice works. If practitioners were trained in basic diagnostic medicine and first aid (equivalent to what people who work on NHS Direct might receive) they'd also be able to encourage patients to seek out a medical professional when their case indicated that this would be required to address an underlying issue. Given that, under the current system, doctors are required to dedicate their time and specialist attention to updating digital records and assessing more patients in less time, and as such, they don't have time to engage in placebo-enhancing ritual, perhaps we need an additional professional specialism to provide this? Perhaps they could help outcompete the unscientifically grounded stuff that currently operates in the wellbeing sphere.
I really like your idea about ensuring that what we do is grounded in reason, but that we can also account for the emotions and other foibles of human psychology as an adjunct to that. Too often, I think, we have assumed that reason is all that matters. Given that this doesn't account for the fullness of the human experience, this purism has paradoxically given the merchants of unreason greater licence to operate - because they speak to parts of us that our mainstream culture doesn't touch.
Regarding how you are able to essentially entertain unscientific feelings within a "safety net" of not believing them to be factually accurate, this is actually pretty common. I suspect it might have something to do with Kahneman's "Thinking Fast and Slow" point - we have a cognitive mode that is deliberate, rational, reflective, hard, and rigorous (System 2), and another mode that is intuitive, emotional, reactive, easy and quick (System 1). By feeling invigorated after eating a salad, you're paying a little game with your System 1 - using an easy thought process to affirm a beneficial behaviour; all the while the other more robust mode of thinking in System 2 is left unperturbed.
We see lots of ethnographic examples of this bifurcation; a lot of ethnographic examples of magic or elaborate rituals show that the people doing them do not believe that these practices will have technical effects by themselves. There's an excellent essay by Bronislaw Malinowski, where he points out that just because Trobriand Islanders use spells on their canoes to encourage successful voyages, does not mean that they'd happily go to sea in a canoe that is rotten or poorly made. His point is that ritual in most instances exists to address a different aspect of the human experience - what we might refer to as System 1.
I would call this (between us, maybe write something else over the door?) self hypnosis training.
Good idea.
Humanity needs to recover ancient healing rituals. Im a biotech, finding out magic actually works.
Well said!
@@aboymadeofsky Deliberately entertaining ideas that you know to be true is a fairly common technique people with psychotic illnesses use. Psychosis is weird in that if you try to counter it with reason it often get worse since it just holds such a tight grip over your basic survival instincts. A way to deal with that is to deliberately invoke magic or fantastical ideas that operate within the logic of the psychotic delusion but ensure your safety, when not experiencing psychosis the person in question is well aware that this doesn't work but they deliberately don't challenge the belief because of it's usefulness. Like a good example would be someone experiencing psychosis and seeing horrific monsters on the wall, even if they are aware they're a hallucination the hallucination will only get worse if they try to tell themselves that, so instead they might perform some sort of magic ritual like burning incense that's supposed to protect them from the monsters. The ritual works because instead of denying the experienced reality of the monsters being there it directly addresses it with action, and of course carrying out the ritual can help you ground yourself. If you talk to people with Schizophrenia, Bipolar Type 1 or other psychotic disorders you'll usually hear them talk about the unrealistic ideas they deliberately entertain in order to help themselves, if they're doing well they are perfectly aware that these beliefs are outlandish.
This is also why it's generally a bad idea to try to tell a psychotic person that what they're seeing is not real, it just makes their stress even worse and denies them the compassion they need right now because they're experiencing something terrifying, and at some point the result will just be that the person in question will see you as a danger, because from their perspective you are. What's better is to offer compassion and assure safety, you can partake in rituals like this or just stay with them until the psychotic episode has passed. And you can be safe in the knowledge that you aren't somehow making their disease worse, so long as you don't confirm any of their delusions and of course ensure they get professional help this is generally the best way. And most psychotic diseases can be treated, 75% of people who get diagnosed with Schizophrenia see an improvement in their life quality and symptoms, with 25% seeing a full recovery.
Also some of these things also apply to other mental illnesses, like this advice is very similar to how you'd deal with a person experiencing an anxiety attack, at this point I think most people know that telling them it's nothing just makes it worse. Also you can do the same thing and deliberately entertain false ideas to help yourself, one Tumblr post mentioned that if thinking Naruto would be proud of you for brushing your teeth then that's as good as anything.
This video has both completed evaporated any faith I had left in humanity, and 100% convinced me I have superhuman superpowers. Thanks Rohin.
I kept coming back to watch this video in chunks and the beard really helped in remembering where I was up to! Thank you so much, really enjoyed this
Hehe, we Nebula folks have had access to this for a while.
Great video, loved the reverse moustache gag and advertiser mocking!
I didn’t go into this thinking I’d watch the whole thing, especially as I had to sleep halfway through (it was late, not the content!), but it was so engaging I had to come back.
Placebo is something I’ve sometimes worried about. “Am I just convincing myself this is working? What if I look stupid when I tell the doctor how much it helped when it really couldn’t have done that much? Why am I having less headaches on a drug that isn’t meant to treat headaches?” This definitely made me think about things differently, and I’ll probably watch it again to absorb more of it.
I was especially heartened by your attempts at therapies such as acupuncture, something I-as someone who is sceptical of alternative medicine-was embarrassed to have tried for my chronic pain as well. Thank you for educating on this topic and dispelling some of the myths of placebo for those invested in avoiding the pitfalls of full quackery.
(P.s. Does anyone have a link to the video of Dr. Francis and Dr. Hope at the infusion clinic? I can’t seem to find it. Thanks!)
This is so amazingly informative, yet incredibly entertaining. Sure to be a Dr Francis classic.
New favorite YT channel just popped in my feed.
5 minutes in and I think your material and delivery outshine many "actual" stand up comedian sets and lectures at the same time. You're one of a kind sir🙏🙏🙏
Total Gem of a CZcamsr, just commenting to show some appreciation :)
This masterpiece was definitely worth waiting for. Just the right level of sarcasm, comedy, education with fantastic editting. The memes and non-ads were enough to send me into overdrive😂😂😂. I LOVE your videos and method of delivery.
what an informative, interesting, funny, though-provoking video. seriously loved the sponsor segments too... not to mention that you filmed this in reverse. your videos always make my day!
My fav part were the non-ads
Thank you so much for taking the time to be nuance in your position and explaining in detail how the placebo effect can be complimentary to evidence based medical treatment in a safe way. If this is the way you treat your patients, they are very lucky.
I am a psychologist and THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH FOR THAT DIG ON BETTERHELP!!!!!!!
I'm a physiotherapist with an interest in pain science - this was incredibly informative. It really shows the importance of listening to my patients, finding out and meeting their expectations, and encouraging them to think positively in order to maximize that placebo effect. Thanks!
I described your channel as ‘Well explained, funny, interesting, he’s great’ to my mum, and now she watches all his videos, keep up your good work!
Sorry about your shoulder pain Dr Francis. Admire your talent and enjoy your interesting and funny videos. Thank you 🌻
I have no idea how long it took you to recod and edit this epic video, but it was well worth it. Over an hour of fascinating info sprinkled with humour. I especially like the sham ads.and the variable facial hair.
those sponsored segments were some of the funniest content ive seen on youtube. great video
No one will probably see this, but at 1:03:00 I’m crying and it just feels so good. Thank you for this masterpiece♥️
This is a masterpiece. One of the best videos on the whole platform.
Outstanding video sir! I was skipping the first 'vpn' ad and only realised it was a catfish when jumping back to find where you restarted. The bit about the trusted GP is so true. My GP retired recently and I'd been with him for 25+ years. Now his practice is run by a collective of young doctors. I'm sure they are all great, but not seeing the same doctor on consecutive appointments and missing his knowledge of my life history just feels less. Anyway, thanks for a great vid. After years of watching the stemtubers you have now finally sold me on nebula. 🙂
This entire video is a masterpiece
Point 7: You could add a socially accepted time-out after surgery to the placebo, which like mentioned at the beginning gives the organism time to regenerate
My god the content quality you are producing man! This comment is here because I can't like videos more than once but want to let this website and other people know this is fantastic. Thanks!
The deep fake is terrifying
I cherish the way this channel has helped me shape my mind, and continues doing so in this spectacular way. Thanks for everything!
Woah! You filmed the whole video backwards, love the dedication for the bit!
Thank you for this. Apologies if this was addressed in an earlier video - I'm a little late to the party - but I'm wondering if you've ever looked into so-called 'toxic-positivity' and it's implication on patient wellbeing - specifically those in palliative care? I can see the value in trying alternative therapies and keeping a positive attitude, but I do worry that a preoccupation with avoiding negative thought patterns can reinforce the fear and isolation that patients experience when they are already at their most vulnerable. This might be out of scope for this channel, but I thought I'd flag in case you're looking for sequel material :)
A huge issue. Thanks for raising it.
Try reading “Smile and Die” a book written by a woman diagnosed with breast cancer in the US. She recounts how lots of her friends gave her little teddy bears and suggested that she could now focus on the important things in life like being positive. There is some totally mad stuff in her book…..positivity gone mental comes to mind.
Therapist: Rohin with a mustache doesn't exist, he can't sell you placebos
Rohin with a mustache:
Rohin with progressively growing facial hair xD
This is such a good mix of humour and solid thoughtful information, thank you and please keep making videos. 🙏
the only reason it takes so long in between your videos is the growing of your facial hair :p
Ironically that’s the quickest bit
I managed to fit viewing this vid in between colonic beetroot massage sessions and primal scream therapy - as always, a splendid video and we are very grateful.
A masterpiece.
So good infact, I feared it would be your finale. Perfect in all 50 facets.
An incredible CZcams long! It's so inspiring to see someone who has the means to do very well on CZcams algorithmically chose to make better content even though it won't do as well analytics wise. My subjective experience was amazing, more than the 35 2 minute shirts could have ever been. It's no substitute for big analytic numbers but I sincerely thank you for this video.
You never cease to impress. I hope this isn't pressure, but I do hope you'll continue to provide your wit, rational thinking and ever-variable facial shrubbery for years to come, to this constantly shifting youtube (and of course, nebula).
Wonderful video, the effort in making shines through the quality
I appreciate the work that went into this. I've been fascinated by the placebo and nocebo effect for years. Seems crazy that the NHS used to use placebos a lot, without telling patients, but now they can't do that. Talk to any old doctor or nurse and they will probably have stories of how effective they were. I also think that some drugs, that only have a greater effect than a placebo for a small minority, shouldn't be ruled out. If it works for a small group of people and is like a super placebo, that's great.
maaan, you're so underrated! Dr Rohin thank you for your presence on youtube!
i've been using the Placebo effect on myself and others for YEARS now.
people keep telling me you can't placebo yourself because "how can you trick your SELF?!"
i can't wait to share this video!
How do you exactly do that?
Your videos are some of my favourites that I've ever watched. I love your reasoning, honesty and no-BS approach.
Also congratulations for getting so many great sponsors!! I hope you were able to get your Lamborghini in the colour you wanted.
💖
Did this Doctor just cross the line and become a CZcamsr first? Is up down? This was tour de force and it was like a whole new man by the end of the video. Wow.
I watched this on nebula and genuinely got annoyed I couldn't speak about how brilliant this video is until now. Let me social my media damn it!
Years ago, I saw an article about a study that showed a placebo effect with exercise.
The study took a group of people who were starting jobs as housekeepers at hotels or motels. Each was given a physical to get baseline stats. Half were told that their daily work was the equivalent of the daily recommended amount of exercise they should do. The other half weren't given that information.
After three (or six) months working these jobs, the housekeepers who were told that their work was also exercise showed the kinds of improvements one would expect from people doing regular exercise. The other housekeepers did not see the same improvements.
The same kinds of improvements as in better mental health, less pain, more stamina etc. Not improved v02 max etc.
@@therabbithat ,
Quoting the study, "they showed a decrease in weight, blood pressure, body fat, waist-to-hip ratio, and body mass index."
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17425538/
No mention of whether they tested VO2 max.
I love the sponsor ads in this video. I bought them all and so far I've only replaced one of my garden tiles directly next to my lavender to boost my confidence. Merci a lot!
Thanks Doc for the knowledge, from your fellow chronic pain sufferer. Hope we all get better someday.
I usually put these on in the background but I'm watching for the subtle changes in stubble
I've been on the cheating train for years already. It's easy to convince myself that something "may be having an effect" in the exact same way, as people convince themselves they're sick by reading about symptoms. I just read about the possible health benefits of various foods while I eat.
Fantastic video. Really explaining the concept while dunking on some sponsors :)
I'm a doctor (cardiologist in training) in Austria and feel like the placebo effect is grossly underutilized in everyday practice, especially in the realm of improved patient communication. Considering that a large chunk of what we internal medicine doctors can do is prescribe medications the value of which are entirely predicated on our patients actually taking them as prescribed, I feel like taking the extra minute (and sometimes much more...) to try and explain why I am doing what, while using communication tactics you've described (mentioning trials, creating expectations for positive effects etc.) has a truly outsized effect for the individual patient.
I will shamelessly plug this video whenever the topic of placebo comes up, you truly are an inspiration :)
Can't tell if I'm watching A.I. Freddie Mercury or Young Neil deGrasse Tyson. The ambiguity is invigorating!
best use of sponsor segments ever- I bought all of the annual subscriptions