Just One Question | Shamini Jain: How Can You Heal From the Placebo Effect?

Sounds True: Insights at the Edge - Tami Simon

In this episode of Just One Question, Tami Simon interviews Shamini Jain, a clinical psychologist and researcher in psychoneuroimmunology, about the misunderstood power of the placebo effect. Jain reframes placebo

Key takeaways

The placebo effect is not about being fooled—it's a real, measurable manifestation of the body's innate healing response.
Open-label placebo studies show that people can experience significant health improvements even when they know they're taking a placebo.

Main topics

The placebo effect redefined
Open-label placebo studies

Notable quotes

Placebo equals what I call HEAL—Holistic Elements that Activate Life force.

You don't have to be duped to get well with a placebo.

Conclusion

The placebo effect is not a flaw in medicine but a powerful testament to the human capacity for

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:02) Hello and welcome to Just One Question from Insights at the Edge. I'm Chris Rock. Speaker 4 (0:07) And I'm Mallory Corbin. We're producers at the Sounds True Podcast Network. We work with Tammy on Insights at the Edge to bring you transformational ideas from wisdom teachers around the world. And Speaker 3 (0:17) every week on this show, we pull out some of the most inspiring, most transformational ideas from those hundreds of conversations, and we bring them to you in the form of one question and one answer. That's Speaker 4 (0:27) the name, Just One Question. Speaker 3 (0:29) We hope you enjoy. Speaker 3 (0:33) So today, Mallory, we're going back into the world of energy healing. Oh, Speaker 4 (0:37) boy. Speaker 3 (0:38) Yeah. So for some listener context, Mallory and I just recently finished producing a podcast series called Phenomena about the science and stories of energy healing. We Speaker 4 (0:47) worked on it for about a year and a half. And I guess, Chris, are you you're not quite done with it. Speaker 3 (0:53) I am not. I am not done with energy healing. There's one aspect of it that I found really fascinating in that work. And I came across this conversation Tammy had with Shamani Jane in 2023 that covered this exact thing. And that is the placebo effect. Speaker 4 (1:09) OK, yeah, we we touched on that a bit in the podcast. Speaker 3 (1:12) Yeah, it's a lot of people say that energy healing is just the placebo, right? It's all in their head. Speaker 4 (1:17) OK, so they're imagining it. Speaker 3 (1:19) Yeah, they're imagining it and it's not real. But what we learned in the podcast and what Shamani is going to talk to even more here is that placebo doesn't mean it's not real. In fact, I remember more than one person we talked to preferred to call it the meaning effect because placebo had this really terrible connotation. Anyway, Shamani Jain is an Ivy League trained clinical psychologist, an award winning research scientist in psychoneuroimmunology and integrative medicine. And she's also a teacher in the upcoming Sounds True Subtle Energy Healing Immersion course, which starts literally this week. And you can learn more about that at Sounds True. But we're going to hear what she has to say about placebo. Speaker 4 (1:55) OK, we're going back to energy healing for what I cannot promise will be the last time with Shamini Jain answering the question, how can you heal from the placebo effect? Stay Speaker 3 (2:06) with us. Speaker 1 (2:09) I was talking to our creative team about companies that I would love to promote on Insights at the Edge, and I suggested Tomboy X. After looking for a swimsuit for years, I kid you not, it was Tomboy X that finally delivered. To give you a bit of background, when I was a kid, I wanted to shop in the boys' department, much to my mom's chagrin and frustration. I did it anyway, so I could find clothes that fit my spirit. Rough? and ready for adventure. As an adult, finding a bathing suit that felt comfortable to me through and through seemed like mission impossible until I discovered Tomboy X, the Unisuit. It's comfortable, quick-drying, all the coverage that allowed me to feel comfortable, yet light. Oh my God, I felt like me. Only much later, when I bought a rainbow sun shirt, did I