Transcript

So today I'm going to talk about how our mindsets matter in virtually every facet of our lives. But I want to begin by telling a story about a group of researchers in Italy. Dr. Fabrizio Benedetti and his colleagues studied a group of patients undergoing thoracic surgery. Now, what you should know about thoracic surgery is that it's a very invasive procedure. Patients are put under anesthesia, while the surgeons make major incisions into the muscles of the sides in the back in order to gain access to their heart, into their lungs. Now, about an hour after the anesthesia fades away, the pain starts to set in. Fortunately, patients are given strong doses of morphine sulfate, a powerful painkiller.

This is real routine treatment for thoracic surgery. But Dr. Benedetti and his colleagues made a few subtle tweaks, half of the patients were given the dose of morphine, by a doctor at their bedside. The other half was given the exact same dose of morphine, but it was administered into their IV by a pre programmed pump. Now, you would think that both of these groups of patients would experience the same relief.