This may be the first time someone has deliberately used a placebo to cure himself. Once I made the mistake of referring to the refutative studies, and my brother cut me off. And our pain is not limited to the physical. For instance, it must be a great comfort to believe in God. The placebo-resistant are also less successful in life.
Most people agree that self-confidence is an advantage in almost any endeavor.
Many people, though, the talented and the untalented alike, are less successful than they might be, owing to low self-esteem. They are unable to believe in themselves just because that belief would be self-fulfilling. Instead they watch helplessly as others rise through the ranks above them, buoyed by robust, if sometimes delusional, self-assurance. When I complained to my brother, he told me about some studies that have shown vitamin E and vitamin C with citrus bioflavonoids to be effective against cold sores. The next time I saw him, he gave me a bottle of each.