Placebos and Faith
by Mike James
You have probably heard of the placebo effect. The "placebo effect" has to do with a patient taking a pill that has no medical properties, yet in many cases, taking that pill leads to an improvement for a physical or mental issue. You usually hear of this effect taking place without the patient's knowledge of whether the pill had medicine or not.
Today, researchers believe the effect can occur even when the patient knows the placebo is not medicinal. "You never tell a patient it's going to work," says Ted Kaptchuk, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of the program in placebo studies and the therapeutic encounter at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. "Honesty is critical. We make it crystal clear: 'This is a placebo, no active ingredient, [it's] like a sugar pill. It might work, it might not work. Improvement can be quick or gradual.' It's a crazy idea, but we have evidence that it works some of the time."
Research data shows that placebos can alleviate many issues controlled by the brain, like pain, anxiety, depression, and fatigue. "Placebos don't shrink tumors or lower cholesterol. They don't cure the common cold," Kaptchuk says. "But they do relieve symptoms for things such as chronic pain, cancer-related fatigue, osteoarthritis pain. It doesn't get rid of the arthritis, but it can get rid of the pain," which is controlled by the brain.
Another interesting aspect to the placebo effect is the idea experts assert that the effect only seems to work in the context of a supportive trusting doctor and patient relationships.
Listen to what else Kapchuk says about it, "It's the empathy, attention, emotional support, thoughtfulness, acts of decency, laying on of hands that goes on between a patient and doctor. You can't just take a Tic Tac, a sugar pill. It doesn't work without a doctor."
This is quite an extraordinary statement when we begin to relate this to prayer and healing in the Bible.
One of the most important scriptures on healing in the Bible is James 5:14-16. Here, we are taught to have the elders pray over the sick. Notice the use of plural elders. This would fit in with the idea of a trust network like with a patient and doctor with support staff. Notice the elders also anoint with oil. You can only do this with "laying on of hands" as mentioned in the doctor patient relationship above. Also, in verse 16, we read about the prayer of a righteous man availing much. If a man is righteous, he is obeying God and in good relationship with God just like the importance of relationship between doctor and patient in the placebo effect.
What's going on here? Isn't it also interesting that this effect does not work all the time, but sometimes? Many of our prayers do not always have the outcome we desire. It all depends on the will of God (James 4:15).
It is also interesting that the placebo seems to have some connection to our brain and our ability to have the brain impact our body. Some believe this happens because the brain and/or our thoughts can impact the rest of our body.
Isn't that a little how faith works? In prayer we often hear about the importance of faith in order to have God respond to us (Hebrews 11:6). We also read in Scripture about the connection between the spirit in man and God's Spirit.
The Bible teaches us that man has a spirit, and God has a Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:11-12). We also know that when we are baptized and repent, we can receive God's Spirit which then assists us in our relationship with God (Romans 8:26-27).
There is much we do not know about man's spirit and God's Spirit, but we do know our spirt and God's Spirit can meet in the mind and brain of man. This is where faith and belief reside and the capacity for dramatic change in a human whether through a placebo or the power of God in concert with the spirit in man.
So, what can we learn from this information?
What we think and believe can impact mental and physical outcomes for us. Faith is important.
Being in a good relationship with your caregiver (God, the Church or a doctor) can impact the outcome of your belief and/or faith.
Prayer and the placebo do not always result in the outcomes we desire.
There is much we still don't know.
Keep praying, believing, and having faith.
Sources: "The Power of Placebos," by Marlene Cimons, in The Washington Post, March 11, 2025