ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Mind Stents -- Implanting "Wellness" Suggestions</TITLE><META NAME="description" CONTENT="Mental techniques, similar to surgical implants, that are used in therapy and are based on the brain's suggestibility and plasticity."> <META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="placebos, hypnotism, phantom limbs, psychological suggestion, mental tricks, psychology, plasticity"><!-- Casale Media: Pop Under --> <script type="text/javascript"><!-- var casaleD=new Date();var casaleR=(casaleD.getTime()%8673806982)+Math.random(); var casaleU=escape(window.location.href); var casaleHost=' type="text/javascript" src="http://as.casalemedia.com/s?s='; document.write('<scr'+'ipt'+casaleHost+'55502&amp;u='); document.write(casaleU+'&amp;f=1&amp;id='+casaleR+'"><\/scr'+'ipt>'); //--></script> <!-- DO NOT MODIFY --></HEAD><style> A:link {text-decoration: underline;} A:visited {text-decoration: underline;} A:active {text-decoration: none; font-weight: none;} A:hover {text-decoration: none;} </style> <BODY LINK=#0000FF VLINK=#ff00ff ALINK=#ff0000 BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF> <center><!-- ValueClick Media 468x60 and 728x90 Banner CODE for Mind Bluff --> <script src="http://cdn.fastclick.net/js/adcodes/pubcode.min.js"></script><script type="text/javascript">document.write('<scr' + 'ipt type="text/javascript">(function () {try{VCM.media.render({sid:17141,media_id:1,media_type:5,version:"1.2"});} catch(e){document.write(\'<scr\' + \'ipt type="text/javascript" src="http://media.fastclick.net/w/get.media?sid=17141&m=1&tp=5&d=j&t=n&exc=1"></scr\' + \'ipt>\');}}());</scr' + 'ipt>');</script><noscript><a href="http://media.fastclick.net/w/click.here?sid=17141&m=1&c=1" target="_blank"><img src="http://media.fastclick.net/w/get.media?sid=17141&m=1&tp=5&d=s&c=1&vcm_acv=1.2" width=728 height=90 border=1></a></noscript> <!-- ValueClick Media 468x60 and 728x90 Banner CODE for Mind Bluff --> </center> <center><table border="0" width="80%"><TR><TD> <BR><center><font face="arial" size="6" color="blue"><B><H1>Mind Stents</H1></B></font></center> <center><font face="verdana" size="4" color="#800000"><B>Similar to surgical implants, but <BR>consisting of mind-altering suggestion...</B></font></center> <BR><font size=3 face="verdana" color=#000000>Increasingly often, it appears the path to treating painful threats to human health lies in the mind's susceptibility to suggestion. Depending on the problem and treatment options, harnessing the mind to heal itself requires ingenuity, stagecraft, and operant conditioning. Mental "stent" is one metaphor to describe this form of medical treatment. Let's discuss a partial list of the tools...</font> <BR><center><img src="timebutton.jpg" alt="Picture of pill"></center> <BR><font size=3 face="verdana" color=#000000><B>Placebos.</B> Make no mistake. The mystery of the placebo hides one of the greatest Whodunits in modern Psychology. It's a major research frontier, a pioneering crusade to understand the mind's influence in connection to the physical form. Like, for instance, <i>how</i> do placebos work? <i>Why</i> are they so effective? <i>What</i> constitutes their basic neurophysiology? <BR><BR>Placebos are a secret treasure in the Great Unknown. A few of the things we <i>do</i> know about them -- <BR><BR>They can make you sleepy, or energetic, depending on their suggested purpose. If they're in the form of an inert sugar pill, colors can make a noticeable difference.</font> <font size=3 face="verdana" color=#FF0000><B>Reds</B></font> <font size=3 face="verdana" color=#000000>are better "uppers,"</font> <font size=3 face="verdana" color="blue"><B>blues</B></font> <font size=3 face="verdana" color=#000000>make better tranquilizers. Like LSD and psychedelics, the <i>set</i> and <i>setting</i> of their distribution can alter the final outcome. <BR><BR>As a mind stent, placebos needn't be in the form of an ingested substance. Fake operations, bogus devices, or such practices as acupuncture can effect profound changes in a patient. The more powerful the expectations of the participant, the greater the effect.</font> <BR><BR><center><img src="pendulum.gif" BORDER=0 HSPACE=15> <img src="har.gif" alt="Picture of eyeball"></center> <BR><font size=3 face="verdana" color=#000000><B>Hypnotism.</B> Another form of "directed" suggestion, this ancient art has been used successfully as a substitute for anesthesia in surgical operations, and (like placebos) can affect the number of endorphins in the human body. The effects of hypnotism -- ranging from calming stage fright to curing tobacco addiction -- can be long-lasting and permanent.</font> <BR><BR><center> <script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "pub-2256524514981391"; google_alternate_ad_url = "http://mindbluff.com/rich02.htm"; google_ad_width = 728; google_ad_height = 90; google_ad_format = "728x90_as"; google_ad_channel ="0222640197"; google_color_border = "FFFFFF"; google_color_bg = "FFFFFF"; google_color_link = "0000CC"; google_color_url = "008000"; google_color_text = "000000"; //--></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </center> <center><img src="mirrortherapybox.jpg" BORDER=0 HSPACE=25> <img src="lip4.gif" alt="Picture of phantom limb" BORDER=0 HSPACE=25></center> <center><font size=1 face="verdana" color=#000000>www.reflexpainmanagement.com</font></center> <BR><BR><font size=3 face="verdana" color=#000000><B>Mirror therapy.</B> Curing phantom limb pain, a condition in which an amputee's missing limb is often "felt" by the patient as frozen in a tight or uncomfortable position, represents another unique and formidable mental stent. It's a form of operant conditioning -- based, once again, on the brain's suggestibility. <BR><BR>Dr. Ramachandran, a famous neuroscientist and researcher in this field, has discovered that using a clever placement of mirrors to "fool" the patient into thinking his or her phantom limb is actually free and unfettered, often cures the condition after repeated exposure. The deed is performed by substituting a reflection of the patient's other intact limb to falsely represent the missing part, and by tricking the subject's motor reactions into feeling the intact limb, in its freedom of motion, to be that of the phantom. <BR><BR>Mirror therapy utilizes the brain's plasticity in the compromised neural wiring of phantom limb pain to remold itself, untangling the prior signals of constriction.</font> <BR><BR><center> <script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "pub-2256524514981391"; google_alternate_ad_url = "http://mindbluff.com/rich02.htm"; google_ad_width = 728; google_ad_height = 90; google_ad_format = "728x90_as"; google_ad_channel ="0222640197"; google_color_border = "FFFFFF"; google_color_bg = "FFFFFF"; google_color_link = "0000CC"; google_color_url = "008000"; google_color_text = "000000"; //--></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </center> <BR><font size=3 face="verdana" color=#000000>The mini-catalog outlined on this page describes a small sample of a larger enterprise. Additional "stents" exist or are being explored. In a sense, the mind stents described here are mental tricks that bluff the mind into better functioning. Additional tricks can be found <a href="http://mindbluff.com/mentaltricks.htm">here</a> and on other pages of <a href="http://mindbluff.com">Mind Bluff</a>.</font> <BR><BR><CENTER><font size=6 face="arial, helvetica"><B><a href="index.htm">Return to Mind Bluff</a></B></font><img src="clear.gif" height="0" width="80"><font size=3 face="arial, helvetica"><B><a href="http://mindbluff.com/links.htm">Links to Other Sites</a></B></font></CENTER> <BR> </TD></TR></TABLE></center> </BODY></HTML>