Placebo, nocebo, and neuropathic pain

Pain, placebo, and nocebo: epistemic, ethical, and practical issues.

Nonconscious activation of placebo and nocebo pain responses.

The dominant theories of human placebo effects rely on a notion that consciously perceptible cues, such as verbal information or distinct stimuli in classical conditioning, provide signals that activate placebo effects. However, growing evidence suggest that behavior can be triggered by stimuli presented outside of conscious awareness. Here, we performed two experiments in which the responses t...

Placebo, nocebo, and learning mechanisms.

Recent substantial laboratory and theoretical research hints for different learning mechanisms regulating the formation of placebo and nocebo responses. Moreover, psychological and biological variants may play a role as modulators of learning mechanisms underlying placebo and nocebo responses. In this chapter, we present pioneering and recent human and nonhuman research that has impressively in...

Placebo and nocebo effect: a mini-review.

It is well-known that placebo is a substance without medical effects, which benefits the health status because of the patient's belief that the substance is effective and that the nocebo is defined as a substance without medical effects but which worsenes the health status of the person taking it by the negative beliefs and expectations of the patient. Starting with the history of the placebo e...

Induction of nocebo and placebo effects on itch and pain by verbal suggestions.

Physical complaints, such as pain, can be effectively reduced by placebo effects through induction of positive expectations, or increased by nocebo effects through induction of negative expectations. In the present study, verbally induced nocebo and placebo effects on itch were experimentally investigated for the first time. In part 1, the role of verbal suggestions in inducing nocebo effects o...