<p>Who is the author of Suggestible You?</p>

<p>Erik Vance is the author of Suggestible You.</p>

Psychology

Suggestible You Book Summary - Suggestible You Book explained in key points

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Suggestible You summary

Name: Suggestible You
Rating: 4.4 (255 reviews)
Author: Erik Vance

Erik Vance

The Curious Science of Your Brain's Ability to Deceive, Transform, and Heal

4.4 (255 ratings)

22 mins

Brief summary

In "Suggestible You" by Erik Vance, we explore the power of mind over body and how our beliefs can shape our health and wellbeing. Vance offers fascinating insights into the science of placebos, hypnosis and suggestibility, challenging the traditional boundaries of medicine.

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Mental Health Neuroscience

Table of Contents

Suggestible You
Summary of 8 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 8

What’s in it for me? Discover the power of your mind’s suggestibility.

One of the amazing powers of the human brain is its ability to trick itself. Behind this power lies one simple thing: expectation. In fact, your brain pretty much runs on expectations.

What’s more, it doesn’t like to be disappointed. So when reality doesn’t fit its expectations, your brain prefers to warp and twist reality instead of changing its beliefs.

The key to unlocking this power is suggestion. It’s what taps into your expectations, shows you that they can come true, and leads your body to perform astounding feats to make them happen.

In these blinks you’ll learn how expectation and suggestion influence the way you feel pain, recover from illness, and form memories. You’ll understand their positive – and harmful – effects. And you’ll be equipped with the knowledge to use them to your advantage.

You’ll also find out

what makes placebos such effective pain-killers;
how stories influence your stomach; and
why a fake rose could be bad for your health.

Placebos work by tapping into the power of suggestion.

Think back to the last time you took a painkiller. Do you remember swallowing the pill and feeling its soothing effects spreading through your body almost immediately?

If so, you were experiencing the placebo effect. Most painkillers take at least 15 minutes to work. That immediate relief many of us feel when we take a pill comes down, not to an actual physical sensation in the body, but to what we expect to happen.

The key message here is: Placebos work by tapping into the power of suggestion.

A placebo usually refers to a substance that is neutral or inert – like a sugar pill – but still has a positive effect on a patient.

Take homeopathic remedies. The idea behind them is that it’s the essence of the medicine that has the healing effect, so if you dilute it with water until nothing of the chemical itself remains, the water would convey the essence and cure the patient. Most doctors agree that it’s a placebo. The pills have no active ingredients – or at least not in enough concentration – that could cause the claimed benefits. And yet, for some people, the effects are real.

For example, if you’re so depressed you’re unable to leave your home, you might be willing to try anything. One woman in this situation went through years of medications and therapy that hadn’t done anything to help. Finally, she turned to homeopathy.

When she saw the homeopath, they talked for hours about her life and her condition. It turned out that the woman could relate her sadness all the way back to one freezing night in her childhood, when she and her family were fleeing the Nazis in Germany. Based on that conversation, the homeopath came up with a solution: a regular dose of melted snow in a vial. Homeopaths believe that like cures like, so it was supposed to reflect the power of that terrifying cold night.

Amazingly, it worked. The woman got better and even started traveling to see her friends. All because of some sips of water in a vial.

What happened there?

The story linking her sadness to that cold night that the homeopath helped the woman create resonated with her deeply. Our stories, after all, are what creates our vision of ourselves and of the world. They shape how we see things. By helping the woman make sense of her feelings through a story that spoke to her, the homeopath helped her let go of the fears that trapped her indoors.

The snow in the vial was just a prop. But it reveals the power of suggestion.

The body has its own chemical arsenal that can enhance the placebo effect.

No one likes pain, and quite sensibly, most of us try to avoid it. Yet, pain plays a crucial role in our survival. It’s our body’s way of telling us when something is wrong and action must be taken – whether it’s a toothache or a snakebite. In short, pain tells you what to do and what to avoid.

But sometimes pain can hang around long after the thing that caused it has disappeared. It’s called chronic pain, and it afflicts almost three in ten people in the US.

Scientists are still trying to unlock the secrets of what makes placebos work for some people but not for others.

During a 2011 trial for a new therapy to treat Parkinson’s disease – an incurable condition that robs sufferers of control of their body – there was one patient for whom the treatment seemed to be an outstanding success. Almost all his symptoms went away. He stopped slurring his words, his handwriting got better and he could even go back to work. Finally, after years of searching for relief, he felt like himself again.

Imagine the researchers’ disappointment when the results came in. It turned out that the patient had received a placebo. His brain had made the improvements all by itself, without the drug.

The suggestibility that allows us to benefit from placebos also has a dark side in the nocebo.

In 1886 a woman suffering from severe hay fever and asthma walked into a doctor’s office. The doctor, who knew the woman, was aware of her ailments, but he suspected her reactions might have more to do with her “nervous temperament” – which ran in her family – than her physiology. He decided to test her. So before her visit, he put a rose in his office. Predictably, as soon as she came through the door, she suffered a powerful allergic reaction followed by an asthma attack.

Here’s the thing. The rose was fake.

Hypnosis is a powerful example of human suggestibility.

If you’ve seen a lot of classic Hollywood movies, you can probably conjure up an image of an evil hypnotist with crazy eyes and swirly spirals, shining a pocket watch in front of some innocent victim’s face, programing everyone he meets to do his bidding - rob banks, kill the president, or become his personal slave.

Well, the truth is, it’s not exactly like in the movies. But hypnosis does have real effects.

The phenomenon of false memories shows just how susceptible memory is to suggestion.

If you’ve ever seen an optical illusion – even something as common as a straight stick looking bent when it’s in water – or noticed a blind spot in your vision, you’ll know that your brain is not infallible when it comes to sight. But what about your memories?

The key message here is: The phenomenon of false memories shows just how susceptible memory is to suggestion.

Suggestibility affects the way we make choices in everyday life.

When you’re choosing a bottle of wine to go with dinner, what do you look at? If you’re not a sommelier, you probably pick the one with the nicest label near the upper range of your price limit.

Because it’ll taste better, right?

You can harness the power of expectation to improve your life.

It should be clear by now that expectation is built into who we are and that it can do some astonishing things. And for all of humanity’s history, this power has been used in everything from shamanic rituals to faith healings.

Some of those claims may well be dubious, but there are ways you can integrate this power into your daily life.

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What is Suggestible You about?

Suggestible You (2016) shows the amazing ways our expectations affect our body’s responses to illness, pain and memory. It explores how the power of human suggestibility changes the processes that happen in our bodies and minds. And it describes how humans can – and already do – harness this ability to improve lives, whether in medicine or in everyday life.

Suggestible You Review

Suggestible You (2016) by Erik Vance explores the power of suggestion and the impact it has on our bodies and minds. Here's why this book is worth reading:

It presents a fascinating exploration of the influence of suggestion on our health, from the placebo effect to alternative therapies, showcasing the mind's incredible ability to shape our experiences.
Backed by extensive research and interviews with leading experts, the book provides a well-rounded understanding of the subject, making it a reliable source of information.
Vance's captivating storytelling brings his personal experiences and encounters to life, creating an engaging and enjoyable read that keeps you curious and entertained throughout.

Who should read Suggestible You?

Everyone interested in how the human mind works
People who don’t believe in miraculous cures but are curious about the science behind them
Anyone who’s ever wondered about the body’s ability to heal itself

About the Author

Erik Vance is an award-winning science writer. He has a degree in biology and worked as a researcher, educator, and environmental consultant before starting a career as a journalist in 2005. His work has been published in Harper’s Magazine, the New York Times, Scientific American, and National Geographic. He is also a contributing editor at Discover magazine.

Categories with Suggestible You

Psychology Health & Nutrition Science

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