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Placebos Have the Power to Heal
One of the most common arguments we see against the use of alternative, herbal, aromatherapy, or other form of traditional medicine is that the benefit we have from using these forms of treatment are due to the placebo effect (Null & Gale, 2018).
The placebo is commonly known as the sugar pill. Scientists argue that traditional treatments are not effective in it of themselves, but that the cure comes from the patient’s belief in their effectiveness. This they call the placebo effect.
They could claim, for example, that lavender Lavandula angustifoliaessential oil does not help a person to relieve insomnia, but the person’s belief that the oil will help them is what enables them to fall asleep.
I believe in the effectiveness of alternative remedies. I have published several posts that share personal stories and studies that show evidence of the effect traditional cures have. In fact, 80% of the world population uses herbal medicine, and often the traditional remedy is more effective than the scientific or allopathic ones (Ji, 2018; Null & Gale, 2018).
Yet, I also think that our beliefs play a large role in our healing process. As such, so what if the placebo has a healing effect? What is wrong with someone believing that something will work, and then that something actually working? Isn’t that part of the healing…
