Placebos

The biological power of the placebo effect. The power of placebos to ameliorate symptoms has been with us for centuries. Western medicine today is finding it increasingly difficult to ignore the efficacy of placebos. In some clinical trials with placebos as controls, inert or sham replicas of active pharmaceutical drugs and even sham surgeries have been found to be as beneficial as the intervention being tested. In this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, Kathryn Hall examines the power of placebos, showing how their effects can influence our clinical trials, clinical encounters and, collectively, Hall argues, our public health. Hall, who has studied the placebo effect for years, reviews the history of the placebo in medicine, tracing its evolution from quackery and patent medicine to its use as a control in clinical trials. She considers the ways that expectations and learning affect our response to placebos; advances in neuroimaging that reveal the inner workings of the placebo effect; the “nocebo” effect; placebo controls in randomized clinical trials; and the use of psychological profiles and genetics to predict individual placebo response. The effects of placebos have been hiding in plain sight; with this book, Hall helps bring them into clearer view.

The Placebo Effect in Clinical Practice brings together what we know about the mechanisms behind the placebo response, as well as the procedures that promote these responses, in order to provide a focused and concise overview on how current knowledge can be applied in treatment settings.

The placebo effect continues to fascinate scientists, scholars, and clinicians, resulting in an impressive amount of research, mainly in the field of pain. While recent experimental and clinical studies have unraveled salient aspects of the neurobiological substrates and clinical relevance of pain and placebo analgesia, an authoritative source remained lacking until now. By presenting and integrating a broad range of research, Placebo and Pain enhances readers’ knowledge about placebo and nocebo effects, reexamines the methodology of clinical trials, and improves the therapeutic approaches for patients suffering from pain. Review for Placebo and Pain: “This ambitious book is the first comprehensive and unified presentation of the placebo and nocebo phenomena in the area of pain. Written by the international leading experts in the field, the book provides an accurate up-to-date [work] on placebo and pain dealing with current perspectives and future challenging issues. --Ted Kaptchuk, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School Contains historical aspects of the placebo effect Discusses biological and psychological mechanisms of placebo analgesic responses Reviews implications of the placebo effect for clinical research and pain management Includes methodological and ethical aspects of the placebo effect

Psychodynamic psychotherapy and psychoanalysis have had to defend themselves from a barrage of criticisms throughout their history. In this book David Jopling argues that the changes achieved through therapy are really just functions of placebos that rally the mind's native healing powers. It is a bold new work that delivers yet another blow to Freud and his followers.

One of the most widespread words in medicine is placebo and placebo effect, although it is not always clear what it means exactly. Recent progress in biomedical research has allowed a better clarification of the placebo effect. We know that this is an active psychobiological phenomenon which takes place in the patient's brain and that is capable of influencing both the course of a disease and the response to a therapy. Since publication of the first edition of this book in 2008, there has been an explosion of placebo research, and this new edition brings the topic fully up to date. Throughout, the book emphasizes that there are many placebo effects and critically reviews them in different medical conditions, such as neurological and psychiatric disorders, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, immune and hormonal responses, as well as oncology, surgery, sports medicine and acupuncture. The psychosocial context around the patient is crucial to the placebo effect, for example the doctor's words and attitudes, and throughout this is considered. Exhaustive in its coverage, and written by a world authority in the field, this is the definitive reference text to the placebo effect - one that is essential for researchers and clinicians across a wide range of medical specialities.

Neurobiology of the Placebo Effect, Part I, Volume 138 in the International Review of Neurobiology series, is the first of two volumes that provide the latest placebo studies in clinically relevant models. Placebo responses effects are not merely a psychological, but a complex psycho-neuro-biological process that requires activation of distinct brain areas. This book discusses current research and projects on the involved brain circuitry and neurotransmitter systems. Specific chapters cover such topics as pharmacological conditioning of the endocrine and immune system, expectancy modulation of opioid neurotransmission, nocebo effects in visceral pain, and conditioning as a higher-order cognitive phenomenon, amongst other topics. Latest placebo studies in clinically relevant models Current research and projects on the involved brain circuitry and neurotransmitter systems Specific chapters on applications

This book provides a perspective on the concepts placebo and placebo effects, which has been missing so far: a detailed analysis of the history of the terms, their current use, suggested alternatives and the implications of the conceptual confusion. Everybody knows something about placebos and placebo effects. If, however, people are asked to define the concepts, the spectrum becomes wide. Does 'placebo' refer to an inert treatment or does it cover all elements of the patient-physician-interaction except for pharmacological or other physiological mechanisms? Furthermore, if, by definition, a placebo has no effect, what sense does it make to talk about a 'placebo effect'? Even in scientific literature the concepts ‘placebo’ and ‘placebo effect’ are used in many senses and often in a confusing way. While this book discusses many issues which keep puzzling physicians, it also covers the historical developments of the concepts of placebo and placebo effect as well as the conceptual confusion in the definitions. This book is intended for physicians, philosophers, psychologists and any other people interested in placebos, placebo effects and the physician-patient relationship.

Neurobiology of the Placebo Effect, Part II, Volume 139, the latest release in the International Review of Neurobiology series, is the second part of a two-volume set that provides the latest placebo studies in clinically relevant models. Specific chapters cover the History of placebo effects in medicine, Lumping or Splitting: Towards a taxonomy of placebo and related effects, Theories and brain mechanisms of placebo analgesia, Pain Modulation: From CPM to placebo and nocebo effects in experimental and clinical pain, Modulation of the motor system by placebo and nocebo effects, and the role of sleep in learning placebo effects, amongst other topics. Presents the latest information on placebo studies in clinically relevant models Provides current research and projects on involved brain circuitry and neurotransmitter systems Contains specific chapters on applications