[mjevans]

Trust results. For some people the best medicine is guided by some change from within. I believe that as far as positive outcomes are concerned (ruling out helpful communities and other factors) the actual reason that placebos and that any organized system of belief work for some people is the same. They want to, and believe that they will, get better; thus they do, or at least they learn to cope. It's pretty much a psychological solution.

You can talk your way out of some problems; but not all problems. Some things require physical changes driven by external (alien to the self) forces.