For years, meditation 's viability as pain reliever as been in question. Is it just a placebo effect? Placebo effect refers to the way the body and mind adjust to pain and bring a sense of relief after dummy treatments or fake surgeries. However, a recent study led by Fadel Zeidan, PhD, UC San Diego Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion squashed all rumours and proved that meditation could indeed relieve the body of pain by engaging different brain mechanisms.
The study demonstrated that meditation and placebo effect activate different neural pathways – proving that meditation indeed has a tangible effect on pain. Fadel Zeidan, PhD, professor of anesthesiology and Endowed Professor in Empathy and Compassion Research at UC San Diego Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion, in a media release, stated that mindfulness meditation helps in separating pain from the self – this further helps in modifying the way a person experiences pain. ALSO READ: Why is meditation so powerful? From health benefits to realisation beyond the I The study was conducted on 115 volunteers who were assigned to four groups - mindfulness meditation, sham meditation, placebo cream, or a control group.
The volunteers were asked to undergo four 20-minute training sessions before their pain testing was done under an MRI scanner. Mindfulness meditation vs. placebo cream and sham treatments It was observed that mindfulness meditation outperformed placebo and sham treatments in reducing pain rati.