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knowing. Now, this thought process can also be applied to prayer and the hoping of God healing you. For
example, if you pray to a supreme being in hope that you are going to heal, and you heal, it may because you

imposed the placebo effect onto yourself. You may have triggered you limbic cortex in your brain to perceive

hope/motivation, which then triggers a neurochemical response in your body, releasing hormones to make you

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feel happier. There are also some correlations between happiness and boosted immune system response.
Happiness has an effect on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in our bodies. This axis is what

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regulates our immune system, hormones, digestion, and stress levels. The placebo effect alone has been a
proven system of healing for health issues such as anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, OCD, tardive

dyskinesia, ischemic heart disease, cardiac failure, Parkinson’s disease, and even cancer. All these diseases

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have been helped by the aid of a placebo. Many of which also benefit from boosted levels of neurochemicals

in our bodies. Serotonin is often referred to as “the confidence molecule” because increased levels of

serotonin can lead to a boost in self-esteem. This will then have you become more confident, furthermore,

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creating more serotonin in our bodies. The placebo effect also works so well in some cases because it is

triggered by certain personality traits. These personality traits include optimism, motivation, and the

expectation of results. Prayer, as discussed above, provides these three personality traits as well. Praying to

God and knowing that he is there to provide reassurance provides someone with optimism, and further

motivates the person to do better in life. This phenomenon could be described as either the Hawthorne effect

or the Rosenthal effect.

The Hawthorne effect is the change of actions/behavior in a group entirely based on their observer's

expectations. In this case, the group of people is the followers of God and God is the observer. In Catholicism,

there is a doctrine of rules that you must not commit known as sins. If you were to commit these sins, then

your chances at getting into heaven have tampered unless you repent or confess them and ask forgiveness

from God. A healing patient may be more motivated to heal as they want to bring pride to God for showing

strength and to continue to send his message to the rest of the world through good spirits. The Rosenthal effect

is when a group changes their behavior because they feel like they are being watched. God is always

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