Now that we know about this effect, how can we apply it rationally to our lives? In general, it’s hard/impossible to make a rational decision to internally believe something. But I can see how this can apply in things like exposure therapy.
For example, I used to teach a lot of performance fire art (lighting yourself on fire for the fun and amusement of others), and when working with new students I explicitly made sure that we started with skills that did not hurt at all (i.e. briefly lighting your jeans).
I did this due to my personal observations that a lot of the pain in these sorts of situation comes from fear. There is already a “nocebo” effect going on in that people expect being on fire to hurt, and so it does...much more than it would if the nocebo effect weren’t there. By starting with things that caused just mild discomfort, and slowly working your way up, you can pretty much negate the nocebo effect.
Of course, then there is the next stage, where you are doing things that cause pain (leaving any exposed body part lit for a significant amount of time). Then there is some mind hacking type stuff going on.… You purposefully dispassionately distance yourself from your body. Believe “I know this will hurt. I am ok with that. It is just pain receptors telling my brain that my arm/tongue/whatever is on fire. I am already aware of this. I don’t care.” You have to have done it enough to have internalized the fact that the pain you are experiencing is greatly disproportionate to the actual damage inflicted on your body.
There’s a bit more to it than that, but it’s an interesting state of mind.
For example, I used to teach a lot of performance fire art (lighting yourself on fire for the fun and amusement of others),
… says the user “daenerys”. Totally didn’t see that coming.
By starting with things that caused just mild discomfort, and slowly working your way up, you can pretty much negate the nocebo effect.
Acclimatization can achieve very interesting results, especially with subjective responses to things such as pain and nausea, definitely. I’m not certain, however, that this would still qualify as adjusting for a ‘nocebo’ effect.
It seems that “nocebo” has more to do with the perception of malady or pain being resultant from an event rather than what you’re describing. Something like informing someone you’ve injected them with a needle without actually doing so, and thereby witnessing their pain response. Or the article’s example of the man whose cancer ‘killed’ him.
A similar phenomnon, certainly, but the same? I don’t know.
Now that we know about this effect, how can we apply it rationally to our lives? In general, it’s hard/impossible to make a rational decision to internally believe something. But I can see how this can apply in things like exposure therapy.
For example, I used to teach a lot of performance fire art (lighting yourself on fire for the fun and amusement of others), and when working with new students I explicitly made sure that we started with skills that did not hurt at all (i.e. briefly lighting your jeans).
I did this due to my personal observations that a lot of the pain in these sorts of situation comes from fear. There is already a “nocebo” effect going on in that people expect being on fire to hurt, and so it does...much more than it would if the nocebo effect weren’t there. By starting with things that caused just mild discomfort, and slowly working your way up, you can pretty much negate the nocebo effect.
Of course, then there is the next stage, where you are doing things that cause pain (leaving any exposed body part lit for a significant amount of time). Then there is some mind hacking type stuff going on.… You purposefully dispassionately distance yourself from your body. Believe “I know this will hurt. I am ok with that. It is just pain receptors telling my brain that my arm/tongue/whatever is on fire. I am already aware of this. I don’t care.” You have to have done it enough to have internalized the fact that the pain you are experiencing is greatly disproportionate to the actual damage inflicted on your body.
There’s a bit more to it than that, but it’s an interesting state of mind.
… says the user “daenerys”. Totally didn’t see that coming.
Acclimatization can achieve very interesting results, especially with subjective responses to things such as pain and nausea, definitely. I’m not certain, however, that this would still qualify as adjusting for a ‘nocebo’ effect.
It seems that “nocebo” has more to do with the perception of malady or pain being resultant from an event rather than what you’re describing. Something like informing someone you’ve injected them with a needle without actually doing so, and thereby witnessing their pain response. Or the article’s example of the man whose cancer ‘killed’ him.
A similar phenomnon, certainly, but the same? I don’t know.