Previous studies suggest that nocebo effects, sometimes termed "negative placebo effects," can contribute appreciably to a variety of medical symptoms and adverse events in clinical trials and medical care. In this study, using a within-subject design, we combined functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and an expectation/conditioning manipulation model to investigate the neural substrates...

The nocebo effect is the onset of untoward reactions following the administration of an indifferent substance. The oral challenge with alternative drugs plays a central role in the management of drug allergy and the use of inert substances is part of this procedure. We evaluated the occurrence and clinical characteristics of nocebo effect in patients with adverse drug reactions. Six hundred pat...

A wealth of research shows that the expectancy to improve, either by verbal suggestion or by learning experiences, results in less pain and suffering [8]. There are also intriguing studies showing the relevance and usefulness of placebo in clinical settings [4]. Far less research is available on the reverse, the nocebo effect. Overall, results of these studies are concordant with the placebo re...

Evidence from clinical studies emphasizes the relevance of contextual psychosocial variables, including physicianpatient interactions, for treatment outcome [1]. Positive psychosocial infl uences on treatment outcomes are termed placebo eff ects, whereas negative infl uences are termed nocebo eff ects. Experimental research reveals that the psychosocial context of therapy induces biochemical ch...

INTRODUCTION Placebo and nocebo represent complex and distinct psychoneurobiological phenomena in which behavioural and neurophysiological modifications occur together with the application of a treatment. Despite a better understanding of this topic in the medical field, little is known about their role in physiotherapy. PURPOSE The aim of this review is: a) to elucidate the neurobiology behi...

OBJECTIVE Choice may be an important influence on the effectiveness and side effects of medical treatments. PURPOSE We investigated the impact of having a choice of medication compared to no choice on both nocebo and placebo responding. METHODS Sixty-one participants were randomly assigned to either choose between or be assigned to one of the two equivalent beta-blocker medications (actuall...

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...

This comprehensive review provides an overview about placebo and nocebo phenomena in antidepressant trials. Improvements in the placebo groups may partly be explained through methodological issues such as natural course of depression and regression to the mean, but also fundamentally reflect investigators' and participants' expectations. A meta-analysis by our group of 96 randomized placebo-con...

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...