It’s a truism that if you think you’re sick, then you probably are; the reverse is equally true.
Last night I watched a documentary called Teenage Exorcists, about three young women from America who travel the world with one of their fathers (the chief exorcist) banishing demons from folk who genuinely believe they’ve been possessed by Satan/Jezebel/Death, you name it.
These girls are like a real-life ‘cross’ (ha) between Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Scooby Doo movies (mainly because I think Brynne looks a lot like Daphne).
Although the word ‘placebo’ didn’t come up during the documentary, I felt the very atmospheric ritual of exorcism — the showmanship, the drumming, the crowds, the screaming — demonstrates the power of rituals in general.
Why Rituals Work from Scientific American
The Power Of Rituals from Psych Central
Turns out that the link between rituals and placebo goes way back:
“Placebo buttons are a lot like superstitions, or ancient rituals,” the article reads. “You do something in the hopes of an outcome – if you get the outcome, you keep the superstition.”
- from Placebo Buttons Do Absolutely Nothing, at io9, you know, like that button you’re meant to press before you cross the road at traffic lights.
I have no plans to visit an exorcism ever, skeptic that I am, but I am wondering about how everyday rituals might provide a soothing, if not outright placebo, effect and what new rituals we might adopt in order to bring calm to everyday life.
