Help - Wife and mother in law believe in power of the mind to heal themselves and others

bhavv said:
Actually, its scientifically proven that the power of the mind can heal any self repairable / healable condition faster, as reduced stress significantly increases recovery time. The power of the mind alone can also vastly reduce and minimize pain.
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This I can accept, to a point. Praying/wishing/waving your hand through the air to heal others though is pointless.
 
elmarko1234 said:
That's part of the placebo effect....
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According to several immunology journals, the improvement in recovery time was linked to the effect of hormonal balance on the immune system. A placebo effect would indicate that nothing whatsoever is actually happening, but there is strong evidence backing that hormones released due to stress significantly reduce recovery time by up to several days.
 
Oh well OP don't worry that much.

Just imagine that you could have married her and have a child with her already, what would you do then?!?!!!

Oh wai..
 
LizardKing said:
It hurts when they would rather wave there hands about than actually visit the doctor. Steve Jobs is/was famous for favouring faith healing over proper medical treatment. Look how that turned out. :)
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He had a liver transplant though so he cant have favoured it that much, unless he "thought" himself a new one ;)
 
LOAM said:
Is it much different to prayer tbh ? Who's it hurting.
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well the placebo / reduced stress method won't fix cancer, or anything else that is not self recoverable. Believing that prayer / power of the mind can fix anything incurable, or that needs medical attention is stupid.

If your arm happened to get chopped off, you would definitely require urgent medical assistance, not wishful thinking or prayer to hope that it will magically reattach itself or grow back.

My mother however also believes that prayer can cure cancer, crippled and blind / deaf people. I felt like wanting to punch her repeatedly in the face to try and beat the stupid out, but since I know that wouldn't work either and would only get me in serious trouble, I didn't.

Its worse that this belief in my parents religion stems from crazy religious nutters and gurus in India managing to convince thousands if not millions of common morons that they can heal cancer and anything else through the powers bestowed upon them by their god.
 
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bhavv said:
Actually, its scientifically proven that the power of the mind can heal any self repairable / healable condition faster, as reduced stress significantly increases recovery time. The power of the mind alone can also vastly reduce and minimize pain.

Though none if that is an excuse not to see a doctor when needed, nor to think that you can self heal anything that your body normally cant.
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ye... the power of /your/ mind, not someone else's LOL
 
bhavv said:
According to several immunology journals, the improvement in recovery time was linked to the effect of hormonal balance on the immune system. A placebo effect would indicate that nothing whatsoever is actually happening, but there is strong evidence backing that hormones released due to stress significantly reduce recovery time by up to several days.
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The placebo effect does not say nothing is happening, just that what's happening isn't link to external stimulus (active drugs in most cases).

If I give somebody a sugar pill (telling them it's medicine) or lay my hands on them pretending to heal them (if they believe in it) I'm doing exactly the same thing, I'm changing the mental state of the individual which can AT TIMES improve the body's own self healing mechanisms.

The fact that you can replace healing hands with sugar pills, ju-ju juice, magic cards or prayer pretty much indicates that it's the positive feeling in the mind.

The problem is, that many illnesses don't respond to the placebo effect (some do) & real medical intervention is required.

For that reason, placebos should only be given by qualified medical professions (as they are best armed to determine if a placebo would work) - but as they are not reliable (it does not work for pessimists that well for example) - they avoid it's use all-together.

It's not good medicine to give somebody sugar pills if they have a real condition which would be better treated by giving them real drugs with an active ingredient.

The other problem is the mind-set required to believe in all that hocus-pocus often expands to other areas - causing people to resort to nothing but placebos for serious illness or other detrimental life factors (instead of getting real medicine or actually resolving the problems).

Placebos can work for minor problems I agree, but it's bad medicine & indulging delusional thinking (which increases the propensity for mental illness).
 
There is no evidence to show positive thought promotes healing there is evidence to show the absence of negative thought (eg cortisol causing etc) will promote healing. Two very different things.
 
Xordium said:
There is no evidence to show positive thought promotes healing there is evidence to show the absence of negative thought (eg cortisol causing etc) will promote healing. Two very different things.
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I remember reading in New Scientist about 10 years ago about some study in a University in the US that claimed prayer significantly helped people suffering form heart problems (hospitalised patients). Cant remember much else about it other than that, and its likely been superseded by now anyway.
 
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