background doctor-patient communication has far reaching influences on the overall well-being of the patients. words are powerful tools in the doctor’s armamentarium, having both healing as well as harming effects. doctors need to be conscious about the choice of their words. this study aimed to determine the frequency and pattern of nocebo phenomenon (np) un-intentionally induced by the commun...

Background: Nocebo effects, including nocebo hyperalgesia, are a common phenomenon in clinical routine with manifold negative consequences. Both explicit expectations and learning by conditioning are known to induce nocebo effects, but the specific role of conditioning remains unclear, because conditioning is rarely implemented independent of verbal suggestions. Further, although pain is a mult...

BACKGROUND Psychological factors are known to significantly modulate itch in patients suffering from chronic itch. Itch is also highly susceptible to both placebo and nocebo (negative placebo) effects. Brain activity likely supports nocebo-induced itch, but is currently unknown. METHODS We collected functional MRI (fMRI) data from atopic dermatitis (AD) patients, in a within-subject design, a...

Negative expectations deriving from the clinical encounter can produce negative outcomes, known as nocebo effects. Specifically, research on the nocebo effect indicates that information disclosure about potential side effects can itself contribute to producing adverse effects. Neurobiological processes play a role in the nocebo effect, and this article provides a selective review of mechanistic...

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 ...

Introduction. The nocebo effect consists in delivering verbal suggestions of negative outcomes so that the subject expects clinical worsening. Several studies indicate that negative verbal suggestions may result in the amplification of pain. Amplification style is one of the most important dimensions in psychosomatic research. Methods. One group of pain therapy unit patients was evaluated at ba...

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...

Research into interventional techniques in managing chronic spinal pain continues to be challenging, mystifying, confusing, and biased. Insight, or lack thereof, into placebo and nocebo phenomena contributes mightily to these difficulties. Unfortunately, placebo-nocebo responses are the subject of numerous controversies and challenges from not only a research perspective, but also clinical pers...

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 ...

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...