The secret to optimizing whatever therapy you are using is to use your authority as the therapist and your client’s belief in authority to initiate the placebo effect to their advantage.

It works! So why not use it?!

First, here are some very interesting findings in relation to placebos: Asthmatic patients have been shown to exhibit bronchoconstriction after inhaling a placebo described as a bronchioconstrictor, and brochiodilation after inhaling a placebo described as a bronchiodilator (Luparello, Lyons, Bleeker, & McFadden, 1968; McFadden, Luparello, Lons, & Bleecker, 1969; Neild & Cameron, 1985; Spector, Luparello, Kopetzky, Souhrada, & Kinsman, 1976).

Placebo morphine is considerably more effective than placebo Darvon, which in turn is more effective than placebo aspirin (Evans, 1974). In each case, the placebo is about half as effective as the pharmacologically active drug. Similarly, placebos produce more pain relief when given after a more potent drug than they do when given after a less potent drug (Kantor, Sunshine, Laska, Meisner, & Hopper, 1966). Thus, the effectiveness of a placebo pain reliever varies as a function of its believed effectiveness.

Placebo and active analgesics are more effective when presented with a well-known brand name (Branthwaite & Cooper, 1981).

Placebo injections are more effective than placebo pills (de Craen, Tijssen, de Gans, Kleijnen, 2000).

The color of a placebo pill can influence its effects (reviewed in de Craen, Roos, de Vries, & Kleijnen, 1996). When administered without information about whether they are stimulants or depressives, blue placebo pills produce depressant effects, whereas red placebos induce stimulant effects (Blackwell, Bloomfield, & Buncher, 1972). Patients report falling asleep significantly more quickly after taking a blue capsule than after taking an orange capsule (Luchelli, Cattaneo, & Zattoni, 1978). Red placebos seem to be more effective pain relievers than white, blue, or green placebos (Huskisson, 1974; Nagao, Komia, Kuroanagi, Minaba, & Susa, 1968).

Finally, the magnitude of the placebo response has been shown to vary as a function of the dose that the person is asked to consume (de Craen, Moerman, Heisterkamp, Tytgat, Tijssen, & Kleijnen 1999; Kirsch & Weixel, 1988).

Now, let’s consider RET and other “energy therapies” and the placebo effect. As a RET technician and hypnotheraist, I’ve found that positive reinforcement of the client’s release and psychic change is paramount to their healing. When I use words like, “Yes! You’re doing it!” and “That’s right! Just like that!” and “Way to go, Nancy!” and “There, that got it all!” – I tend to initiate the placebo effect toward what I want to accomplish with my client.

If I were to use words like, “So, you have lots of sadness coming up…” and “It’s possible that you may never get over that heartache…” and “Oh, that upset stomach you are having is probably a little resistance…” and “Oh, that’s called abreaction – that’s when we do a process like RET and you get sick or get a headache…” and “Ooh! You’re having pain? Uh… let’s try a different process and see if that helps the pain…” I get a totally different result. These also initiate the placebo effect – against you as the therapist OR client.

My physician is now familiar with the effects of his negative comments to patients – called the nocebo effect – in which the patient tends to live up to the negative expectations of the medical practitioner – especially if the patient holds the medical practitioner in high regard or esteems them as authorities.

We all use negative feedback to ourselves and to some degree it’s healthy – giving us a more balanced view of the world. When we add authority into the picture – and you are an authority as a RET technician or hypno/psychotherapist – clients tend to much more strongly initiate the placebo (or nocebo) effect.

The secret to optimizing whatever therapy you are using – whether it be psychotherapy, psychiatry, hypnotism, voodoo, religious counseling, shamanism, naturopathy, or RET – is to use your authority as the therapist and your client’s belief in authority to initiate the placebo effect to their advantage.

That means being mindful of the language used in sessions – using that powerful authority to anchor healing mind states. Here is an example of a RET session interaction in which the placebo effect was used to great advantage:

Client: “Ow! That hurts my eyes – they are beginning to sting now! Ow! What are you doing?!!”

RET Therapist: “Good! You’re releasing really fast now! That stinging indicates that we are getting right to the core issues and releasing them really fast. Good job. We’ll be right through this in just a moment.” (the client then went on to process anger, resentment, and rage without missing a blink – issue resolved in less than 5 minutes)

Here’s an example of initiating the placebo effect in a way that slowed the process and made issues much harder to deal with later:

Client: “Ow! That hurts my eyes – they are beginning to sting now! Ow! What are you doing?!!”

RET Therapist: “Oh! You must have some anger in there! (RET reading from Body Chart) Let’s blink it all out right now.” (the RET went on to process anger for the next half hour with little luck – issue was eventually resolved, but with a lot of unnecessary discomfort)

Why did the first interaction work so well while the second did not? When a client is in the therapy chair/couch/recliner, s/he is vulnerable to suggestions because the therapist is the authority – they came for help in the belief that the therapist might be able to assist them – to the client, the therapist is therefore an authority about healing.

When a therapist tells a client that s/he has some problem, the client will tend to initiate the placebo effect – belief is the fundamental working element behind all placebos – and tend to make the therapist right. Many a therapist has shot their client-therapist relationship right down the tube by telling the client that s/he has a problem – even if the therapist feels sure s/he has the cure for the problem. It’s a fundamental flaw in allopathic therapy – describing issues as problems needing correction – setting the client up for negative placebo (nocebo) effect.

Certainly, if a patient/client believes that they have a problem and a therapist/doctor has the cure, that belief will tend to cure the problem – in time. Still, it’s a setup for failure – a setup that often makes people sick and hurt unnecessarily.

Now, let me share some fundamental concepts:

• You are not broken! You are perfectly experiencing a state of mind/body.
• Within you are most of the resources necessary to change states of mind/body to another!
• The job of the therapist is to expose their clients’ inner resources.
• Because the therapist wields the tool of authority, the therapist has a moral and legal obligation to use that tool wisely for the good of the client. In other words, it is a moral imperative to use the placebo effect for the good of the client!!
• EVERYTHING THE CLIENT DOES IS POTENTIAL HEALING! Every body symptom the client presents during a session can help heal the client. Any statement made by a client can be part of the healing process. It’s a setup inherent in the relationship. The therapist is not lying when s/he tells his/her client that a pain or other sensation is part of the healing process – because it most likely is! A wise therapist will inform his/her client of that fact occasionally by saying something like, “Good discharge!” or “That’s got it – I can see it in your eyes!”
• Whatever you believe is true – is true! Change your belief and you change everything!

Happy Placebo-ing.

-JB