4: Explanatory mechanisms for placebo effects: cultural influences and the meaning response

In this chapter, I reconceptualize elements of the “placebo effect” as the meaning response. The meaning response is defined as the physiological or psychological effects of meaning in the treatment of illness. Much of what is called the placebo effect – meaning responses elicited with inert medications – is a special case of the meaning response, as is the “nocebo effect”. Several implications of this reconceptualization are described, and emphasis is placed on the idea that meaning effects accompany any effective medical treatment.