How Placebo Effects Work to Change Our Biology & Psychology

2024/3/4

Huberman Lab

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Andrew Huberman

是一位专注于神经科学、学习和健康的斯坦福大学教授和播客主持人。

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安德鲁·胡伯曼教授在本期播客中深入探讨了安慰剂效应、反安慰剂效应和信念效应。他解释说，这三种效应都与大脑对即将发生的事情的预期有关，并且能够独立于药物或其他治疗的物理和化学特性而改变即将发生的事情。这些效应能够改变身体的生理机能，例如心率、血压和特定神经递质（如多巴胺和肾上腺素）的释放。胡伯曼教授还指出，安慰剂效应可以与传统的药物或行为疗法一起使用，以显著改变大脑和身体的运作方式。他强调，安慰剂效应、反安慰剂效应和信念效应都应该被视为独特的治疗方法，并被用于治疗各种疾病。他还详细解释了前额叶皮层在这些效应中的作用，以及如何利用这些效应来改善心理健康、身体健康和表现。胡伯曼教授通过多个研究案例详细阐述了安慰剂效应的具体机制和影响。例如，在帕金森病患者的研究中，安慰剂可以增加大脑中多巴胺的释放，即使安慰剂本身不含任何已知能直接结合或增加大脑中多巴胺的化学物质。他还讨论了一项关于激素功能的研究，该研究表明，安慰剂效应具有高度特异性，并且大脑和身体会将注射与生长激素的增加和皮质醇的减少联系起来。此外，他还解释了经典条件反射如何导致安慰剂效应，例如某些食物的气味和过去的经验会导致胰岛素的释放。胡伯曼教授还讨论了情境对安慰剂效应的影响，例如品牌名称、包装和药丸的颜色都会影响安慰剂效应的强度。他还指出，安慰剂效应并非无限的，例如安慰剂可以减轻癌症治疗的不适感，但不能减小肿瘤大小或消除肿瘤。他还强调了信念效应的重要性，并通过研究案例说明了信念如何影响激素反应和运动效果。最后，胡伯曼教授解释了前额叶皮层到下丘脑的特定神经通路如何控制压力反应，以及某些基因如何影响个体对安慰剂效应的易感性。

Deep Dive

Chapters

Placebo, nocebo, and belief effects demonstrate the brain's ability to alter outcomes based on expectations. These effects impact biological functions, offering potential benefits for health and performance. By the end of this episode, you will understand these effects and how to leverage them.

Placebo effects improve symptoms or performance.
Nocebo effects worsen symptoms or performance.
Belief effects alter outcomes based on learned knowledge.
Prefrontal cortex plays a crucial role in expectation and prediction, influencing other brain and body functions through neural circuits.
Placebo effects are not merely psychological; they cause physiological changes.

Shownotes Transcript

In this episode, I discuss placebo and belief and mindset effects — all of which exert a powerful and real influence on our biology and psychology. I discuss how your beliefs and expectation that a certain outcome will occur after taking a substance (or any intervention cause genuine changes in brain and bodily function. I discuss how placebos can change neurotransmitter and hormone release, pain levels, whether the stress response is beneficial or detrimental and more. I also explain how placebo effects can work with traditional drug or behavioral treatments to help improve health outcomes and why some people are more susceptible to placebo effects. By the end of the episode, listeners will understand the placebo effect, how it works, and how beliefs and mindsets can be leveraged toward mental health, physical health, and performance goals.

For show notes, including referenced articles and additional resources, please visit hubermanlab.com).