The pragmatics of placebos, what can be done?

In light of one of my recent posts I guess I did a discreet calling out of a certain influencer, and in light of this post-mortem of this controversy she did on her TikTok. It's worth discussing. This is just one of the facets of what may be considered problematic.

Toxic positivity, that's certainly a thing. Time to open a can of worms and what it means to use influencers as we move ahead.

In light of the Rachel Hollis Controversy, these two cussy podcast episodes is a quick summary of it. I may alienate some of here true fans by talking about this, oh well. Something struck with me, with my own episode of burnout that I'd like to reflect.

No, I did not choose myself out of burnout, I had to sort it out with some direction. Natural physical organization was the mindset that helped the most.

"just choose happiness" No, that's not going to cure mental illness. This is the pinnacle of such a sentiment within the self-help industrial complex. I'm a part of it with it giving advice, I guess I have to show what's wrong with this industry to be a responsible influencer.

Positivity is ultimately the placebo effect, and it's twin cousin. Negativity is what nocebo does. Catastrophization is the science of pain with its relation to the mind. Here Seth's written article and podcast on all of it, including on how it won't stop going away once it's discovered. There's another podcast episode on cheap placebos and their effectiveness.

So what to do about it?

Customer service and Mise en Place (preparing everything beforehand so it ain't at the last minute) are both placebo effects that can be used to help with making belief more persuasive.

Neutrality is a viable position too, optimism and pessimism as a tool to help complete projects. It can also help not to lean into toxic positivity.