anton mesmer was a physician living in europe in the 1700s who took europe by storm by developing this really sham medical ritual, this technique that involved using magnets to make people feel better and what he was really skilled at doing was convincing people that if they partook in his medical treatment which had no active ingredients, that they would actually feel better. it turns out that the medical treatment was a total fraud, the person who demonstrated this was none other, interestingly enough, than benjamin franklin who was moonlighting in paris at the time that mesmer was there. we've known about the power of belief to structure our thinking for ages. often times just taking a sugar pill is as powerful for relieving our depression and anxiety as an antidepressant medication. lots of studies attest to this. mild and moderate forms of depression and anxiety a sugar pill works as well as an ssri. that is powerful if you think of the side effects associated with these active active drugs. so for a really long time we have known this, but there is one important element that has

in the book i tell a story of anton mesmer who is the person responsible for the term mesmerism. anton mesmer was a physician living in europe in the 1700s who took europe by storm by developing this really sham medical ritual, this technique that involves using magnets to make people feel better. and what he was really skilled at doing was convincing people that if they partook in his medical treatment which had no active ingredients that they would actually yield better. it turns out the medical treatment was a total fraud. the person who demonstrated this was none enother interestingly enough nbenjamin franklin who was moonlighting in paris at the time when mesmer was there so we've known about the power of belief or ages. ftoften times just taking a sugar pill is as powerful for these, for relieving our depression and anxiety as an antidepressant medication. lots and lots of studies tested this from mild and moderate forms of depression and anxiety, a sugar pill works as well. that's powerful. if you think about some of the side effects associated with these drugs. so for a r