BACKGROUND A number of people are reporting an environmental sensitivity to sub-audible windfarm sound (infrasound), characterised by the experience of recurrent non-specific symptoms. A causal link between exposure and symptoms is not indicated by empirical evidence. Research indicates symptoms may be explained by the nocebo response, whereby health concerns and negative expectations, created ...

Nocebo hyperalgesia is an increase in subjective pain perception after a patient or subject underwent an inert treatment without any active ingredient. For example, verbal suggestion of increased pain can enhance both pain experience and responses in pain-related cortical brain areas. However, changes in cortical pain responses may be secondary to earlier amplification of incoming pain signals ...

Nocebo effects can be acquired by verbal suggestion, but it is unknown whether they can be induced through observational learning and whether they are influenced by factors known to influence pain perception, such as pain anxiety or pain catastrophizing. Eighty-five female students (aged 22.5 ± 4.4 years) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions. Participants in the control condition (...

OBJECTIVE To compare the incidence of adverse events between active and placebo arms of randomized clinical trials in depressive children and adolescents (C&A) with antidepressant treatments, in order to look for similarities in both groups that allow to establish a possible nocebo effect. METHODS Systematic search strategy (January 1974-March 2013) in electronic databases, conference abstrac...

In this article we explore the ethics of manipulating verbal information for the sake of influencing health outcomes through placebo and nocebo responses. Recent scientific research on placebo and nocebo effects has drawn attention to the ways in which communication by health professionals may modulate the symptoms of patients across an array of highly prevalent conditions such as pain, depress...

Introduction: Placebo and nocebo phenomena in pharmacology are very important, but controversial issues from the perspective of evidence-based medicine (EBM) in many ways. Topic: Glorifi cation and vilifi cation of placebo controlled studies are the two opposite sides of the prevailing misunderstanding placebo and nocebo phenomena in medicine and pharmacology. This misunderstanding is an essent...

OBJECTIVE Research on placebo/nocebo effects suggests that expectations can influence treatment outcomes, but placebo/nocebo effects are not always evident. This research demonstrates that a provider's social behavior moderates the effect of expectations on physiological outcomes. METHODS After inducing an allergic reaction in participants through a histamine skin prick test, a health care pr...

BACKGROUND While substantial placebo and nocebo effects have been documented in antidepressant clinical trials, physicians' awareness of the nonspecific effects in routine antidepressant treatment remains unclear. The study investigated physicians' beliefs and explanatory models regarding the desired effects and undesired side effects of antidepressants, with specific emphasis on nonspecific ef...

BACKGROUND A "nocebo" effect is defined as troublesome symptoms after the administration of placebo. The aim of this study was to determine characteristics of nocebo responses and related factors. METHODS Patients with a reliable history of drug-induced hypersensitivity reactions subjected to placebo-controlled oral drug provocation tests and reacted to placebo, were consecutively included in...