But, My Symptoms are Real!
In the last video, I talked about the mind-body overlap. You have probably heard of the placebo effect (something is more likely to make you feel better if you believe it will). The nocebo effect is the opposite (something can make you feel worse if your mind associates it with sickness).
There is a common misperception that the nocebo effect creates “fake” symptoms. In other words, the body does not change; the person imagines symptoms. However, thinking about something stimulates brain regions that control that function. Here are two examples demonstrating the mind’s powerful influence.
Lemon Visualization
This visualization shows how thinking about eating a lemon can lead to salivation.
Brain Recreating Inflammation
I wanted to share a fascinating study about the brain recreating inflammation (get the full study here). Intestinal inflammation was chemically induced in mice (mimicking inflammatory bowel disease). The memory of this event was stored in specific brain regions (insular cortex). After the intestinal inflammation subsided, the researchers reactivated the specific brain region, and the intestinal inflammation returned. Many clients have described their food reactions as “reliving a bad food experience.” This study provides evidence of how this might happen.
The mind-body connection may sound like symptoms are “your fault.” However, the mind can get stuck in subconscious patterns based on learned associations (i.e., conditioning), which is not a conscious choice. As I discuss in the next module, the C-FAST cycle is an example of subconscious patterns that lead to food restriction and worsening symptoms.