[Izzy]

Originally Posted by kommisar

She says that much like hypnotism, you essentially have to be coerced into believing it to feel its effects. The more gullible your mind the more real these feelings or effects are. Whether it be tingles from whispering or believing a pill relieves pain for a chronic illness some people will assert that these effects are real.

I don't believe these things are related. If you manage to be in such a relaxed state necessary for ASMR to occur then any slight nudge to one of your senses causes a real reaction somewhere in your brain. Perhaps your brain is confused as how to process this drastic change in sensory input or your brain is trying to fill in some gaps kind of like an optical illusion, but with touch and sound instead of sight.

Whatever the case I'm pretty sure it is not related to the placebo effect.