this relates to the whole placebo thing. i was wondering, can a form of illness (or whatever) be induced by your own mind? let's say you're some sort of paranoid person who thinks, expects to get sick...could there be an instance where you have convinced yourself to the point where it actually causes the illness - even tho you never displayed any of the symptoms that SHOULD actually cause it?
kind of like when you see a spider, or ants crawling, and afterward you get that paranoid feeling that there is something crawling on you. your mind, after seeing the bug, is on high alert, and it essentially makes you feel that "tingle" or whatever that makes you think there is a spider crawling on you.
does this make sense?
i dont mean that if youre paranoid about getting cancer that you will get it. this is more in terms of the minor sort of things.
to clarify - everybody is aware of the placebo effect. you are told to take a drug which is supposed to cure you of something. the drug is actually a dud, which doesnt do shit, but you are cured because you BELIEVED that you were being cured due to the dud drug. what im asking is can it happen in reverse... if you BELIEVE that something is happening to you (but it's not) can you actually CAUSE it to happen?
kind of like when you see a spider, or ants crawling, and afterward you get that paranoid feeling that there is something crawling on you. your mind, after seeing the bug, is on high alert, and it essentially makes you feel that "tingle" or whatever that makes you think there is a spider crawling on you.
does this make sense?
i dont mean that if youre paranoid about getting cancer that you will get it. this is more in terms of the minor sort of things.
to clarify - everybody is aware of the placebo effect. you are told to take a drug which is supposed to cure you of something. the drug is actually a dud, which doesnt do shit, but you are cured because you BELIEVED that you were being cured due to the dud drug. what im asking is can it happen in reverse... if you BELIEVE that something is happening to you (but it's not) can you actually CAUSE it to happen?