Placebo: an effective guide
I'm not sure where this post actually belongs, so move it if it needs to be moved. Anyways, I've decided I'm going to share my knowledge of placebo. I may turn it into a tutorial later, we'll see. Anyways, this is designed to help anybody (with a high enough willpower) experience the effects of placebo. To many, including me, placebo works as a medicine, an anti depressant, and an over all slight edge over those who don't know how to use it.
Beginning:
Learning how to use placebo is the hardest part. It's not something you can expect to do and have it happen. To an extent, that's how it works, but you absolutely have to believe it works. All cliches set aside, that's the only thing it takes. The hardest part (for me) was getting the first results. There are several opportune times to try it out. The first time for me came in 5th grade, when my dad pulled a tick out of my side. My friend had first told me about placebo then, and I tried it out. Being so easy to convince, it worked, and it gets easier every time. I would try it at a time like that. For instance, the next time you hurt yourself in any way. Just focus on making it numb. See induction techniques for ways to do that. Anyways, a simple test would just to test yourself. Maybe try pinching yourself, making it hurt more every time you manage to numb yourself. The trick is to find one strand of hope to hang on to. For example, for a lot of people it won't work. When it finally does start to get numb, tell yourself that it works and use it as proof to convince yourself. Again, the key is believing.
Induction techniques:
Once you've at least accomplished a small amount of what to do, you need to find a way to make it happen again. There are several different techniques. and not every one of them will work for you. You may be able to use all of them, a combination, or maybe just one specific technique will work. Here's a couple I know of.
imagery: This one works well for me, but only under certain applications. For example, I get really bad headaches. When I get these, I imagine the headache is a fire and I'm pouring a bucket of water on it. As "zen" as it sounds, it works really well. A creative person could come up with a couple uses for this at the least.
"matrix" style: This one, of course, is named for the matrix point of view. That is "don't think it is, know it is.". This has never really worked well for me, but this is how my friend taught me to do it. Basically, you would tell yourself something like "The pain isn't there anymore.", or "The water is hot". No way around it, no having to tell it that it is, it simply is.
Focus: This is the way I use all the time, and it works really well for me. You basically focus on what it is you want done and getting it done. Any time you get a slight bit of success, you focus on that and use it to boost your "morale". It slowly gets more and more successful until you've accomplished what you want.
"God" style: You look at what you want done like you're a god. That is, "The water is hot if I say it is hot" "the pain's gone because I'm telling it to go away". I haven't really tried this before.
USES
Well, eventually you'll have learned to use placebo to your advantage. A lot of people, like me,have fun with it. There are a lot of ways it can be used to your advantage. Here's a couple of my favorites.
Pain: This is, by far, one of the most useful applications of placebo. I'm prone to headaches, canker sores, etc. and this is the easiest way to get rid of the pain.
Make cold water hot: I do this a lot when I get in the shower and I'm completely out of hot water. I make the water feel warmer than it is so I'm not freezing.
Taste: Make celery taste like chocolate, make saltines taste like banana pudding. I do that a lot, and it's one of my favorite uses.
Dreams: I've found placebo to be a great help when having lucid dreams. For instance, I once tried to make a car explode. Nothing happened, so i imagined a flame inside the car (imagery) and told my self it would explode (god style). I snapped my fingers, and it exploded and flames shot out the windows.
Thanks for reading, and any comments would be helpful.