Ritva Kurittu Wrote:
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> John, measurable neurological effects can not be
> said to be "in the mind". Did you read the article
> of the placebo in the 13 weird things? When they
> blocked the placebo in the form of saline with
> naloxone it did not work... how do you explain
> that?
>
This is an easy one. What you must know is that naloxone was originally used to strip receptors in the brain of opiates in drug addicts. However, the reason why opiates work as analgesics is that humans produce endorphins and enkephalines which react with "opiate" receptors in the brain to control pain. Thus, morphine et al. work against pain because they mimic and bind on the same receptors in the brain as the natural pain killers we produce. Now, a test was made in which dental patients were injected with pure water and told it was novocain. Sure enough, their pain was controlled. The assumption was that the placebo effect generated enkephalins and these controlled the pain. As a test to see if this was true, naloxone was injected, which stripped the receptors of enkephalin and the pain returned.
Bernard