El alma curativa

Si hay algún fenómeno científico fascinante, a fuer de misterioso, es el del efecto placebo. ¿Cómo es posible que una sustancia inerte, que no interacciona de ningún modo con el cuerpo humano, palíe los síntomas de una enfermedad en un modo comparable a una sustancia que cura realmente la enfermedad?  El Boston Globe, (vía) lleva un magnífico artículo que resume las ideas principales ideas e investigaciones sobre el tema. Ahí va lo que más me ha parecido más interesante:

La potencia de este tratamiento es asombrosa. Este medicina sin medicina es efectiva con afecciones como el dolor, el asma, incluso la psoriasis:

 [A] study, published in Science in 2009, found that patients given a topical cream for arm pain showed much less pain-related activity in the spinal cord when told it was a powerful painkiller. A 2009 study found that patients benefited as much from a fake version of a popular spinal surgery as they did from the real one; asthma patients have shown strong responses to a mock inhaler. 

A groundbreaking study published in February in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine found that in one group, psoriasis patients who received a topical cream treatment, alternated with placebo “reinforcements,” did as well as patients who got up to four times more of the active drug. The authors hypothesized that the effect was due primarily to conditioning--the brain learned to associate the cream with healing and sent the same signals even when the cream was inert.

Todo parece indicar que el cuerpo humano posee cierta capacidad de autocuración, que es puesta en marcha si uno cree estar siendo curado, sea esto último cierto o no. De algún modo la mente puede activar un proceso curativo, paliativo, etc... Esto lo demuestra que los efectos del placebo no sólo sean experiencias subjetivas, sino que afecten a los procesos del cuerpo humano.

 

Numerous studies have shown that it can trigger verifiable changes in the body. Brain scans have shown that placebo pain relief is not only subjectively experienced, but that in many cases the brain releases its own internal painkillers, known as endogenous opioids. (Thies placebo effect can even be reversed by the opioid-blocker naloxone.)

Por todo lo anterior, ciertas voces en la comunidad médica proponen explotarlo:

 

 But as evidence of the effect’s power mounts, members of the medical community are increasingly asking an intriguing question: if the placebo effect can help patients, shouldn’t we start putting it to work? ...In recent years, research has confirmed that they can bring about genuine improvements in a number of conditions... In December, the Michael J. Fox Foundation announced plans for two projects to study the promise of placebo in treating Parkinson’s.

¿LLegará algún día en que seamos capaces de utilizar a voluntad esta capacidad autocurativa? ¿Podremos desarrollarla, afinarla?