Nocebo hyperalgesia has received sparse experimental attention compared to placebo analgesia. The aim of the present study was to investigate if personality traits and fear of pain could predict experimental nocebo hyperalgesia. One hundred and eleven healthy volunteers (76 females) participated in an experimental study in which personality traits and fear of pain were measured prior to inducti...

event rates in the studies invalidate the results of our study (1). First, we disagree that a prominent apparent nocebo effect biases toward underdetection of side effects in placebo-controlled trials. The nocebo phenomenon refers to symptoms, physiologic changes, or both that follow administration of a placebo that the patients believe to be an active drug (2). Since patients enrolled in place...

The nocebo effect is a phenomenon that is opposite to the placebo effect, whereby expectation of a negative outcome may lead to the worsening of a symptom. Thus far, its study has been limited by ethical constraints, particularly in patients, as a nocebo procedure is per se stressful and anxiogenic. It basically consists in delivering verbal suggestions of negative outcomes so that the subject ...

BACKGROUND Nocebo effect is the occurrence of troublesome symptoms after the administration of inert substances. It can be easily studied during blind oral challenges for drug reactions, which always involve the administration ofa placebo. METHODS We collected data about nocebo effect in outpatients undergoing oral drug challenge. Patients with previous documented adverse reactions to drugs u...

The purpose of the present study was to examine placebo and nocebo effects under hypnotic analgesia in lowly hypnotizable (LH) highly (HH) subjects. A nocebo, obtained a two-step intervention (verbal expectation conditioning), were studied 12 LH HH subjects hypnosis. Visual analog scales (VASs) pain intensity recorded response short, painful electrical stimuli. VAS scores placebo-produced diffe...

Background Social observation is one of the main ways to gain experience. Similar to first-person experience, observational experience affects the effectiveness of subsequent treatments. Yet, it is still undetermined whether the influence of social observation on placebo and nocebo effects to subsequent treatments remains even if related experience occurred a few days ago. Methods Eighty-two ...

The occurrence of a nocebo effect after placebo administration to healthy volunteers in a Phase I trial was analysed according to their type of personality (Bortner Rating Scale). More subjects with a behaviour pattern A (competitive and aggressive) (50%) described subjective side effects of the placebo than type B subjects (17%, P = 0.03). The volunteers who had nocebo effect had a higher Bort...

CONTEXT Placebo and nocebo effects, the therapeutic and adverse effects, respectively, of inert substances or sham procedures, represent serious confounds in the evaluation of therapeutic interventions. They are also an example of cognitive processes, particularly expectations, capable of influencing physiology. OBJECTIVE To examine the contribution of 2 different neurotransmitters, the endog...