The footnotes lead you to wisc and a quick search on their site leads to http://www.news.wisc.edu/22370

A problem I see is the study's author Richard J. Davidson is the founder of the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds. Anytime a scientist has a business related to the field or seems a little bias, it means the study needs to be replicated by a few more people.
Not saying it isn't a valid study. It just needs to be explored a little further.

totally agreed. but do we know that this is a business? or is it a research project, much like the various "Positive Psychology" departments now all over the place but which were considered ultra-fringe New Age Gumboo when I was in college. I think the study also cites some prior work and claims to be a confirmation or in support of other research, but even there, well, we never really know until we've tried it ourselves, right?

That is very true!

"being positive" i take to mean "the effort to believe something to be true you know is a lie"; a stressful dis-ease producing way of being and an entirely subconscious process...who in their right (awakened) mind would choose to have negative thoughts, bad moods, dark days? Who would "go there" if they were 100% in charge of their 100% conscious (0% subconscious) mind? Truth is, subconscious drivers or programs are at work and which we are not in charge of because they are operating in the dark (subconsciously). Who would choose to be negative if they had the choice? And who would deny that emotions lead to stress lead to illness and disease? If you meditate, you already know by experience the health effects meditation has on the mind and the body. Commentators who are unaware of the technique involved in meditation will tend to lump meditation into the category of "placebo effect". Meditation (TM to be specific) has been bar none the most effective treatment for post traumatic stress disorder among Afghan and Iraq soldiers and I suspect something more than hypnotizing soldiers to "believing" meditation was returning them to normal functioning is at work.

Since I have access to scientific databases, I looked for this in one database (it doesn't mean it doesn't exist, but simply I didn't feel like taking the time to find it) and found that there were four other similar studies published in 2012 - 2013. I cannot post full papers here, but I can post the abstract of one that is very similar....

"Psychological stress is a major provocative factor of symptoms in chronic
inflammatory conditions. In recent years, interest in addressing stress
responsivity through meditation training in health-related domains has
increased astoundingly, despite a paucity of evidence that reported
benefits are specific to meditation practice. We designed the present
study to rigorously compare an 8-week Mindfulness-
Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) intervention to a well-matched active
control intervention, the Health Enhancement Program (HEP) in ability to
reduce psychological stress and experimentally-induced inflammation. The Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) was used to induce psychological stress and inflammation was produced using topical application of capsaicin cream to forearm skin. Immune and endocrine measures of inflammation
and stress were collected both before and after MBSR training. Results
show those randomized to MBSR and HEP training had comparable
post-training stress-evoked cortisol responses, as well as equivalent
reductions in self-reported psychological distress and physical
symptoms. However, MBSR training resulted in a significantly smaller
post-stress inflammatory response compared to HEP, despite equivalent
levels of stress hormones. These results suggest behavioral
interventions designed to reduce emotional reactivity may be of
therapeutic benefit in chronic inflammatory conditions. Moreover, mindfulness practice, in particular, may be more efficacious in symptom relief than the well-being promoting activities cultivated in the HEP program.

(PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved)(journal
abstract)"

I recommend researching the work of Bruce Lipton

If the plaecbo effect is real - why don't you call it a real effect. Bitches can't reason beyond words and labels. If you relax the fuck out and feel better - would you still call that "placebo"? If its real, its real. If I said you are a demented nitwit, and you feel bad - and then the result is said to be placebo because we dont fully understand the neuropsychomycoendoplasmicreticulointeractions that resulted in it, and so there is no objective evidence that you would, would that make sense? I dunno why but I really can't stand demented people who think they are smarter than all. This time, it must be the placebo I took while reading the above comment[till yet to be shown any metaphysical, genetic, or 'real' quantifiable vector, why I wouldn't ].

Because the placebo effect doesn't actually change things? It just makes you feel better. And for some illnesses...like depression...that's fine. However, the placebo effect is not sufficient treatment for diseases that are less about how you feel and more about your body being destroyed.

Correction. Placebos do not cause real effect. Placebo is the sugar pill. Placebo EFFECT is when just THINKING something good will happen causes something good to happen. A placebo effect may occur when biologic changes occur while taking a sugar pill. Obviously not every instance of taking a placebo results in a placebo effect.

But placebo effect does actually change things. You need to read more about it. It is not just "feeling" better.

you win at scrabble for 'neuropsychomycoendoplasmicreticulointeractions'

if the evolution theory is real, why don't you call it just evolution?

just because something is called a "theory" doesn't mean it's not considered real. Let's review science. A hypothesis is a plausible explanation not yet backed up by proof. Back it up with more proof you get a theory. When something is so defined and so backed up by proof that to say otherwise is to seem insane, it's a scientific law, i.e. law of conservation of matter and energy, or newton's laws of motion

Ehhhhh no. Sorry Dr. Tan-Gatue, but you're not entirely correct. Theories in science doesn't evolve into a law when enough evidence is encountered. It's not a ladder system. It does NOT go hypothesis-theory-law. Theories are the HIGHEST level in science. Laws define a simple set of mathematical observations that are set in stone and are used to help define and conceptualize theories. For example.. The THEORY of electromagnetism that you use to operate your computer and QUANTUM theory is also another theory used for your computer. Both of which utilize laws to help formulate the theories.

I stand corrected. apparently I was working using a misconception I was taught thirty years ago in grade school.

Does this explanation I found on physicsforums work?

A "law" is a readily
observable fact about something. It is something that is obvious and
undeniable. Allow me to clear up a common misconception right now, laws are not a "higher" stage than theory, and no theory ever becomes a law.
Laws are simple and obvious statements about a phenomenon that never
require a second guess, or an experiment, to verify them (for example,
there is a law that states that there exists an apparent attraction
between all objects having positive mass...it's called the law of
Gravity, and it's not just undeniable, but it's readily observable and
demonstrable (by virtue of the simple fact that you are not floating
about, but are anchored to the Earth)).

Now, a "theory" is an advanced hypothesis. An hypothesis is a plausible,
testable explanation of how a phenomenon works and/or why it works that
way. Once an hypothesis has been tested repeatedly, under a variety of
conditions, such that it is sufficient to convince a majority that the
hypothesis is probably right ("right", in this context, means that it
can be used successfully to make predictions as to how the phenomenon
will behave if one conducts the same experiment(s) again), it can
graduate to "theory", but it is still tested just as vigorously.

A theory can be "strong" or "weak", depending on the amount of evidence
there is that agrees with it, the amount of accurate predictions it's
made, and the amount of experiments that have been conducted and have
concluded in its favor. However, it doesn't matter how strong a theory
gets (you might think of such as examples as the theory of Evolution,
Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, &c), it never becomes a law.
That would run contrary to the definition of "law" as readily
observable and nor requiring experimenation for verification. Also, a
theory may always be disproven, but it must then be replaced with a
better theory.

Read more: http://www.physicsforums.com

Yeah. Pretty much. Laws aren't 'always' true though. They are just true in certain instances. For example...

Newtons laws.

They are good enough for our conception and our understanding... but they break down when something is too small or going too fast (near the speed of light).

So even though Newtons laws are still laws and are still good enough/applicable enough for our dimensions. They still have their limitations.

If the gravitational theory is real, why don't you call it just gravity?

There is no believing in evolution. Either you understand it or you don't. It's as simple as that.

When are you going to evolve into someone who doesn't insult everyone else?

WHEN did I insult anyone?

shut the fuck up you depressed piece of shit. no one asked for your lousy opinion

I feel that there is scientific proof to back this theory up. Prof Benjamin Libeth from Cal Uni studied brain activity and concluded that there was a noticeable rise in brain activity before a conscious thought that triggered an action (please forgive my simple explanation of this) the Sub conscious mind can process 1 million bits of information in the same time that the conscious mind processes 1 bit of information. So who is really in control? If the subconscious mind believes we are ill then we will be. Then turn the tables and if in our heart we believe that whatever will help us does! Then voila we get better, in simple terms. You only have to trust your intuition and get out of your left brain and realize that without a shadow of a doubt that we are the most amazing beings and that all of this and more is completely true. Love is the answer! What is the question? Get it! Self love is all that matters! Any negative thoughts of lack, victim mentality, with no love of self will only bring on these situations! It's the law of attraction and its always working.

study published in Psychoneuroendocrinology, which is on Elsevier. This article isn't up yet, but you'll notice that the primary author, Richard J. Davidson has papers up from 2000 and 2008. I'm sure this one will be up soon, as well. Jan ed.

Jason, you might find this interesting: Placebo knee surgery! Works just as well as the real thing :)
http://www.nejm.org/doi/ful...

Hi Jason, I agree. The headline is in fact incorrect (bad journalism) as the article said the study looked at the change of the EXPRESSION of the genes, not the genes themselves. Awesome thought indeed

If its real, its real. Not placebo. If you take water and feel better - and statistically 99% of people feel better by drinking water - then water is a [atleast psycho-symptomatic] cure.

True as we have discovered in our own studies that the term "placebo effect" is just a term, however it describes something profound and if anything can be realized or manifested in physical form from a thought then it is a real phenomena and not pseudo-science. In our study we have observed what can only be described as "physical manifestation from non-physical phenomena, which means that people are detoxifying to realize subsequent emotional-physical health benefits from discussion and introduction to a paradigm (a perspective). Reap it Murphy, we are at the top of this one !

Great article! Any insight on how to start reprogramming the subconcious?

Try Emotional Freedom Technique Tapping (EFT Tapping). It combines eastern and western medicine; basically you meditate on a limiting belief or trauma and tap on predetermined pressure points on your body, resetting your nervous system and amygdala to no longer feel stress about certain thoughts. I can personally attest to its power and try to spread the word to everybody I know!! I recommend getting a book or two about it, and you can self-administer the practice.

Yup—rewire the connections between your prefrontal cortex and your limbic system.

Depending on how well you walk, all roads can lead to Rome, but Vipassana meditation is the most "scientific" method I have come across. I believe EFT probably works on the same principle (retraining your stress response by intentionally triggering it and meeting the experience calmly), and while I know EFT helps some people, I have not heard of anybody who got enlightened practicing it, whereas Vipassana has produced many buddhas.

Talk therapy and other techniques can be useful for building self-awareness and intention, but it does not do the groundwork of subconscious reprogramming. That you have to do moment by moment, and meditation is the most cut-and-dried method I know of.

Wouldn't it be better to allow subconscious develop normally during the first 6 years of life? During the first 3 the warp of counscious ( subconscious) is being traced, the next 3 allow for repair. Like with a cloth, you cannot see the warp, just the fabric, but the quality and strengths of it stays in the integrity of the warp. A ''mind-warping'' process needs a special prepared environment and freedom to develop...See: Maria Montessori- The Absorbent Mind

The subconscious is really just a set of programs, habits of thought, a belief is just a thought you keep thinking, it's a mindfulness thing, you need to be aware in the moment the limiting belief arises, and stay with it, challenge it, question it, in order to move past it.
Questioning its basis in reality, the effects on how that thought makes you feel, who you'd be without the thought, what are the opposite thoughts, what type of mindset is bringing about the thought, ie. growth vs fixed.
You don't have to think about driving a car, it's subconscious, you still have the power to be mindful that you don't always use your indicator lights, and thus bring about a new habit that must be focused on in order to always use the indicator light, until it becomes habit.

First, I am curious about your background in this discipline.
Secondly, I have introduced a simple terminology for n=my kids hoping they will share and work with it on their own kids. It is "self-talk. " Self talk is that noise we hear below the din or normal daily life.
The point being that if and when you can catch yourself talking to yourself you then have the ability to question if what you are saying to yourself is true or not. Very difficult but along the lines of meditation I would say.

Your feelings are your indicators of what is going on in your subconscious. They are the vibrations that you are putting out at any given moment. These vibrations create your reality experience. Meditation breaks the patterns of subconscious babble and allows you to connect to the higher, lighter vibrations of peace, joy, contentment, sweet solitude and beyond.

I was pointing a little deeper than self talk, more to repressed feelings, automatic skills, subliminal perceptions, thoughts, habits, and automatic reactions, which is Freud, Jung. however I should have mentioned it, shad helmstetter has been writing about the topic since '90, most recently and much more popular is Eckart tolle.
Bill you'd be very interested in Marva Collins, her ideas are referenced quite frequently in the Harvard positive psychology course, she is very focused on helping build a solid foundation for children, I've integrated many of her ideas into raising my son.

Yes and other research studies such as those involving "biofeedback" are showing similar results (UNT in Denton, TX is one university campus that investigates biofeedback through research).

J.J. I was part of an MRI/Meditation study at Harvard-Mass General Hospital. The mantra referred to in the below article is one we used. Very powerful technology for 'hacking the mainframe".
http://breakingmuscle.com/y...

Try John Hagelin for TM training for orderly brain functions at http://www.hagelin.org/

Good suggestion. For people interested in getting the most out of meditation, what's important, in my opinion, is to understand the distinction between the process of "transcending," as occurs effortlessly during TM practice, and the various other approaches. Here's a link that explains transcending: http://meditationasheville....

The emergent paradigm in meditation research is that the different meditation practices do not all produce the same results. Mindfulness, concentration and contemplation have been found to not have the same effects as one another. Peer-reviewed research also shows that these practices, while beneficial, do not have the same range of benefits as the TM technique: http://meditationasheville....

Thank you for the weblink!!

Wouldn't it be better to allow subconscoius develop normally during the first 6 years of life? During the first 3 the warp of counscious ( subconscious) is being traced, the next 3 allow for repair. Like with a cloth, you cannot see the warp, just the fabric, but the quality and strengths of it stays in the integrity of the warp. A ''mind-warping'' process needs a special prepared environment and freedom to develop...See: Maria Montessori- The Absorbent Mind

Along with those mentioned below, another one is utilizing "hemisync," "holosync," and other similar nomenclatures which refer to inducing the brain to go into a specific wavelength (ie.: delta, theta, etc.) for various purposes including reprogramming the subconscious to move beyond negative programming. Extensive research has taken place for war veterans returning home who experienced events that were extreme shocks to one's mental and/or emotional statesAnother avenue is a website: www.happify.com that provides both free and paid for exercises that are simple, quick, and fun to do that also assist an individual to eliminate negative subconscious or brain chatter thoughts. More correctly stated, happify's exercises do not necessarily eliminate negative thoughts, but rather provide a path that naturally allows a shift in one's focus that generates positive thoughts. There is one area I am still researching that I am not sure if it can be mended by these same techniques and that area deals with thoughts that come from "conditioning," as conditioning is a response arrising more along the autonomic nervous center. I do tend to believe that this form of negative subconscious brain chatter can also be mended by the various techniques; but it is mostly my own belief (which if our thoughts create our reality - then for me it is a "YES" but not necessarily for all).

J. J. That is an easy one. Please contact me only if you are serious in your request and prepared to follow through. What you are talking about, in my work it is called "Intrinsic Recall" and under the influence of NSE, we are able to initiate neurogenisis in the hippo-campus by modifying content of cognition s. Very advanced theory of emotion - cognition.

The ticking clock method http://www.articlesbase.com...

You could read Bruce Lipton's book "The Biology of "Belief". At the back
he explains that a technique called "PSYCH-K" developed by Rob Williams
works very well to tap into your subconscious and re-programme it to
what YOU want. You can Google it :)

Go to http://catherinecollautt.co... to watch an interview of Catherine Collautt, PhD. She'll make it perfectly clear. Best wishes.

Dr. Shad Helmstetter's Self-Talk - get the Lifetime Library of Self-Talk!

This is poor journalism. This article contains no links or reference to original source material and that makes the whole thing suspect. I believe the premise that our thoughts affect our bodies and our biology, but I still really appreciate a link to supporting material or at least the name and location of the articles this piece is based upon. Journalsm like this isn't geared for intelligent, inquisitive minds, but for those who believe whatever is written.