Thinking about the power of religion that I'm seeing at work, I remembered this, one of my favorite episodes of Hidden Brain podcast:
"All the World's a Stage—Including the Doctor's Office"
npr.org/2019/04/29/718227789/all-the-worlds-a-stage-including-the-doctor-s-office
It's about medical placebos, and fascinating studies that show placebos work a surprisingly high percentage of times,
. . . even when the patient knows they're sugar pills.
Here's a Guardian article (2010) about the same thing:
"Placebo effect works even if patients know they're getting a sham drug").
And placebos are not all equal--an article in Psychology Today points out that, for instance, capsules are more effective than tablets.
That's how I understand what I'm seeing, how religion works to save people's lives--powerful medicine doesn't have to be "real" to be effective.
Not so surprising, when I stop to think about it. Secular books and movies have changed my life too, after all.
Obviously this can be manipulated for ill as well as for good. Politics!
"All the World's a Stage—Including the Doctor's Office"
npr.org/2019/04/29/718227789/all-the-worlds-a-stage-including-the-doctor-s-office
It's about medical placebos, and fascinating studies that show placebos work a surprisingly high percentage of times,
. . . even when the patient knows they're sugar pills.
Here's a Guardian article (2010) about the same thing:
"Placebo effect works even if patients know they're getting a sham drug").
And placebos are not all equal--an article in Psychology Today points out that, for instance, capsules are more effective than tablets.
That's how I understand what I'm seeing, how religion works to save people's lives--powerful medicine doesn't have to be "real" to be effective.
Not so surprising, when I stop to think about it. Secular books and movies have changed my life too, after all.
Obviously this can be manipulated for ill as well as for good. Politics!
I'm not surprised religion doesn't have to be "real" to be effective -- but I AM surprised that the subject doesn't have to BELIEVE that it's real. In other words, that they could be aware that it's a spiritual placebo and still feel that it does them some good.
ReplyDeleteSTEVE: "Hidden Brain" doesn't touch on religion working like a placebo (as least not in this episode), but I know plenty of religious people who don't literally believe in God as a "real person" but believe in the psychological power of belonging to a spiritual community and maintaining spiritual practices (prayer as mediation, rituals such as lighting candles & incense, etc.).
ReplyDeleteSo that's an example.
Remember there was an uproar about an Episcopal priest a few years ago who came out and said "You don't have to believe in God to belong to our religion"--implying (or outright saying?) that he didn't!
P.S. A quick google reveals that lots of Anglican priests say things like that!
ReplyDeleteE.g., from The Independent, 2014"
"The Rev David Paterson, a retired Church of England priest, said there was no conflict in preaching while being unable to believe in God.
“Within my congregation I would take the line that how you feel about God is not in the least dependent on whether you think God exists or not. I preach using God’s terminology, but never with the suggestion that God actually exists,” he told University Times, Trinity College Dublin’s newspaper.
“Once you have accepted that religion is a human creation, then it is like art and literature and things like that. They are an extremely valuable way to understand yourself.”"
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/survey-finds-2-of-anglican-priests-are-not-believers-9821899.html
Oh, yeah, I guess I could understand that. I have heard religious leaders say similar things, now that you mention it.
ReplyDelete