How 'Mind Power' may help some patients feel better...

Source: The Times Online

The beneficial effects of placebo in patients not actually receiving active treatment has been recognised by doctors and researchers for many years hence the vital importance of including a 'control' group in all clinical� trials where possible.�� The importance of the placebo effect also applies to drug or other therapuetic trials for tinnitus patients.� Of great interest to the research community is further evidence of the mechanistic basis of the placebo effect. This has been derived from MRI studies by Professor Christian B�chel, who leads a research team at the University of Hamburg� and carried out brain scans in 19 healthy volunteers.

During the scan, they received a number of brief but intense laser stimulations (like "pinpricks") to both hands. The group of� volunteers were told that� a control or 'placebo' cream had been applied to one of their hands and and a 'pain-relief' cream� to the other. In fact identical control creams were was administered to both hands. When people believed that they had received the active cream, they reported feeling less pain and showed less activity in brain areas associated with feeling pain.

The precise mechanisms by which the placebo effect alleviated the sensation remains to be fully described� but it appears that during the scan a part of the brain associated with pain control, known as the rostral anterior cingulate cortex, was active. Professor B�chel explained that: "This region is known to be very rich in opiate receptors, signalling the release of opiates. When participants thought they had been given effective pain relief, the rACC showed significantly more activity."

He added that the placebo effect appears to work in a very similar way to opiate drugs, such as morphine or codeine, but uses the brain's very own pain killers - endorphins.�

It is possible that this mechanism may also be involved in tinnitus and other studies, where the release of the powerful endorphins within the brain is triggered by the patient's expectations of effect.

Read a fuller report of this study on The Times Online