Topic > Patient Placebo Effect: Understanding the Biochemical Process

Although the benefits of placebo effects in patients have been observed numerous times in clinical settings by closely observing patients undergoing treatment for Parkinson's disease, pain management and depression, very little has been understood about the biochemical process that is activated by the placebo effect according to Raul de la Fuente-Fernandez and A. Jon Stoessl in their publication “The biochemical basis of the placebo effect”. The benefits over the placebo effect are better defined as the patient perceives that they are being treated, so patients may exhibit behaviors that suggest they are not sick at all. The original intent of the placebo was to serve as a control in clinical trials compared to the potential drug being tested in other patients, and no clinical study has been conducted to validate the claim of its clinical importance. The placebo effect has proven effective in various forms of treatment. This mindset is hypothesized to initiate a biochemical process within the nervous system involving limbic circuitry and dopamine release that may lead to observed clinical improvement, even in patients who have not received an actual drug. Evidence has shown that believing patients are receiving effective treatment helps their condition improve clinically. Stoessl and de la Fuente-Fernandez have compiled the results of numerous studies, including their own previous research, in this review article to support the claim that the placebo effect is essential for initiating the body's healing biochemistry ( de la Fuente-Fernandez Fernandez and Stoessl, 2004). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Scientists have been able to determine that an important psychological aspect is needed to initiate the biochemical role involved in the placebo effect, however, which scientists are not entirely sure what the biochemical process is. After carefully examining studies on Parkinson's disease, depression and pain, positron emission tomography (PET) demonstrated that structures of the limbic system, including cortical areas and subcortical nuclei, are involved in the biochemistry of the placebo effect. . An important role of the limbic system is to regulate emotions and reward circuits. Such emotions include fear, anxiety, anger and grief. Emotions that can be associated with conditions such as depression and Parkinson's disease. The authors also address another theory that the ability to move is related to mood along with the correlation between Parkinson's patients and depression, but highlight the important findings of the limbic system via PET and the placebo effect. Further studies reveal that the limbic system is the site of the placebo effect when also looking at the reward system and dopamine function (de la Fuente-Fernandez and Stoessl, 2004). Attention is also paid to the correlation between placebo effect and placebo effect. analgesia by de le Fuente-Fernandez and Stoessl from their collections of studies on pain and depression. Both conditions that have been seen associated with each other. The importance of placebo analgesia has been appreciated by doctors for years, and the link between the placebo effect and biochemistry was first discovered through the study of pain disorders. Since then, evidence from placebo analgesic studies shows that it is mediated by endogenous opioids present in the brain involving the reward system. This leads scientists to the theory that dopamine plays an important role within the limbic system based on.