The Power of Belief
ABCNEWS Special

(Click here for complete transcript.)


The show, "The Power of Belief", was an ABC News special originally broadcast last October and broadcast again last week on Thursday, June 3rd. Here's how the program was billed-

"Why do so many of us subscribe to pseudo-scientific or superstitious beliefs, even after being confronted with evidence that they are bogus? John Stossel takes another look at the power of belief."

Unfortunately, I missed viewing the show, but the transcript is fascinating all by itself.

It is my contention that many of miraculous results which people claim they experience from the use of various products which claim to contain real Human Growth Hormone, is quite simply a placebo effect.

I am not challenging any of the testimonials themselves, nor the honesty or integrity of the individuals who write them. But I would suggest that even intelligent people who are aware of the placebo effect do not fully realize or respect the true power of beliefs.

Here are highlights from this ABC News report:


JOHN STOSSEL (voice-over) Scientists say it’s not that therapeutic touch or voodoo directly do anything physically to anyone. It’s just that if you believe in them, they sometimes can have an effect. The placebo effect, it’s called. If you think a therapy will work, that alone may make you feel better.

MICHAEL S. ARONOFF, MD, PROFESSOR OF PSYCHIATRY, NYU Group one will be getting a substance that is a stimulant.

JOHN STOSSEL (voice-over) At our request, psychiatrist Michael Aronoff told these students and teachers at Manhattan’s Kaplan Educational Services that, for a test, he would give some of them a stimulant and others a sleeping pill.

MICHAEL S. ARONOFF What we are interested in is the effect on your usual sleep pattern.

1ST FEMALE STUDENT And if we like it, can we get it anywhere? (Laughter)

JOHN STOSSEL (voice-over) What they didn’t know was that they were all given a placebo, an inert pill that doesn’t do anything. The result? Well, two students felt nothing.

1ST MALE STUDENT I had no effect from this at all. It didn’t change my sleep patterns. I thought it was a psychology experiment.

JOHN STOSSEL (voice-over) But three—fourths of the group felt a difference. Some, a big difference.

2ND MALE STUDENT I felt great in the morning, even though I had much less sleep than I normally did.

3RD MALE STUDENT I would love to take this drug every day of my life if I could. So if you know the name of it or where I can buy it, it would be beneficial.

2ND FEMALE STUDENT It was wonderful. It was. I got good sleep, sound sleep. Didn’t wake up. The phone could have been ringing off the hook, I wouldn’t have heard it. It was that deep a sleep.

JOHN STOSSEL (voice-over) Some reported side effects.

3RD FEMALE STUDENT Thirty minutes after I took the pill, I got a little dizzy.

JOHN STOSSEL (voice-over) Then, they learned the truth.

MICHAEL S. ARONOFF You all received the same substance. You all received a sugar pill.

(Laughter)

4TH FEMALE STUDENT I’m not looking forward to being on national TV and saying that I took a sugar pill and, boy, it made me tired.

5TH FEMALE STUDENT I did feel tingling in my hands.

(Laughter)

I did.

6TH FEMALE STUDENT I just can’t believe that it - my mind got, like, it just did it. I don’t know. I’m - I don’t know.

JOHN STOSSEL (voice-over) So the placebo can be a powerful medical aid... Natural treatments are more popular than ever. Americans spend billions on herbal concoctions, special meditation techniques, crystals and other remedies. The treatments often sound plausible...

MICHAEL SHERMER, PUBLISHER, SKEPTIC MAGAZINE We are wonderful at self—deceiving.

JOHN STOSSEL (voice-over) Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic magazine, is upset at how popular New Age therapies have become.

MICHAEL SHERMER There’s a good reason why we live in the age of science, why the lifespan of humans has doubled in the last 150 years. It’s entirely due to medical science, not medical pseudoscience.


It is doubtful that the followers of the HGH oral spray faith will ever recognize themselves in this story.

But those of you who remain open-minded and yet take offense at persistent requests for facts, figures, clinical studies, real science and test results, should remember we are all seeking the same thing - the truth - and an important step toward finding the truth is the recognition of and the ability to look beyond the power of belief.



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