Back to Journals » Journal of Pain Research » Volume 9

The hardest thing to see is what is in front of your eyes – quo vadis placebo analgesia?

Authors Conrad R

Received 12 September 2016

Accepted for publication 12 September 2016

Published 14 October 2016 Volume 2016:9 Pages 819—823

DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/JPR.S122147

Checked for plagiarism Yes

Editor who approved publication: Dr Michael Schatman



Rupert Conrad

Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

Recent years have seen a huge increase in knowledge about the phenomenon of placebo analgesia. As such, we are able to state with confidence that placebo analgesia exists and exhibits clinically relevant effects,1–4 even though the relative sizes of these effects display a large variation.


Disclosure

The author reports no conflicts of interest in this work.

References

1.

Vase L, Riley JL 3rd, Price DD. A comparison of placebo effects in clinical analgesic trials versus studies of placebo analgesia. Pain. 2002;99(3):443–452.

2.

Vase L, Petersen GL, Riley JL 3rd, Price DD. Factors contributing to large analgesic effects in placebo mechanism studies conducted between 2002 and 2007. Pain. 2009;145(1–2):36–44.

3.

Hróbjartsson A, Gøtzsche PC. Placebo interventions for all clinical conditions. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2010;(1):CD003974.

4.

Colloca L, Flaten MA, Meissner K, editors. Placebo and Pain: From Bench to Bedside. Amsterdam: Elsevier; 2013.

5.

Brody H. Placebos and the Philosophy of Medicine: Clinical, Conceptual, and Ethical Issues. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press; 1980.

6.

Benedetti F. Placebo and the new physiology of the doctor-patient relationship. Physiol Rev. 2013;93(3):1207–1246.

7.

Krummenacher P, Candia V, Folkers G, Schedlowski M, Schönbächler G. Prefrontal cortex modulates placebo analgesia. Pain. 2010;148(3):368–374.

8.

Eippert F, Bingel U, Schoell ED, et al. Activation of the opioidergic descending pain control system underlies placebo analgesia. Neuron. 2009;63(4):533–543.

9.

Eippert F, Finsterbusch J, Bingel U, Büchel C. Direct evidence for spinal cord involvement in placebo analgesia. Science. 2009;326(5951):404.

10.

Moerman DE. Meaningful placebos--controlling the uncontrollable. N Engl J Med. 2011;365(2):171–172.

11.

Annoni M, Miller FG. Placebo effects and the ethics of therapeutic communication: a pragmatic perspective. Kennedy Inst Ethics J. 2016;26(1):79–103.

12.

Hippocrates of Kos. The Oath. Cambridge, MA: Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press; 1923.

13.

Kant I, Paton HJ. Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals. Translated and analysed by Paton HJ. New York, NY: Harper & Row; 1964.

14.

Hull SC, Colloca L, Avins A, et al. Patients’ attitudes about the use of placebo treatments: telephone survey. BMJ. 2013;347:f3757.

15.

Kaptchuk TJ, Friedlander E, Kelley JM, et al. Placebos without deception: a randomized controlled trial in irritable bowel syndrome. PLoS One. 2010;5(12):e15591.

16.

Schatman ME. A glimmer of hope in American pain medicine? J Pain Res. 2016;9:509–513.

17.

Taylor ML. The impact of the “business” of pain medicine on patient care. Pain Med. 2011;12(5):763–772.

18.

Niethard F, Malzahn J, Schäfer T. Endoprothetik und Wirbeslsäuleneingriffe: Uneinheitliches Versorgungsgeschehen [Arthroplasty and spinal procedures: uneven supply done]. Dtsch Arztebl. 2013;110(27–28):A1362/B-1197/C-1181. German.

19.

Kulich R, Loeser JD. The business of pain medicine: the present mirrors antiquity. Pain Med. 2011;12(7):1063–1075.

20.

Stamatakis E, Weiler R, Ioannidis JP. Undue industry influences that distort healthcare research, strategy, expenditure and practice: a review. Eur J Clin Invest. 2013;43(5):469–475.

21.

Agrawal S, Brown D. The Physician Payments Sunshine Act--two years of the Open Payments Program. N Engl J Med. 2016;374(10):906–909.

22.

Becker K, Brunner BK, Wormer V. Versteckte Zuwendungen - Ärzte, Pharmafirmen und das große Geld [Hidden donations - doctors, drug companies and big money]. Süddeutsche Zeitung. 2016 July 20. German.

23.

Crow R, Gage H, Hampson S, Hart J, Kimber A, Thomas H. The role of expectancies in the placebo effect and their use in the delivery of health care: a systematic review. Health Technol Assess. 1999;3(3):1–96.

24.

Ulrich RS. View through a window may influence recovery from surgery. Science. 1984;224(4647):420–421.

25.

Walch JM, Rabin BS, Day R, Williams JN, Choi K, Kang JD. The effect of sunlight on postoperative analgesic medication use: a prospective study of patients undergoing spinal surgery. Psychosom Med. 2005;67(1):156–163.

26.

Shapiro AK, Shapiro E. The Powerful Placebo: From Ancient Priest to Modern Physician. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press; 1997.

27.

Gryll SL, Katahn M. Situational factors contributing to the placebos effect. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 1978;57(3):253–261.

28.

Kaptchuk TJ, Kelley JM, Conboy LA, et al. Components of placebo effect: randomised controlled trial in patients with irritable bowel syndrome. BMJ. 2008;336(7651):999–1003.

29.

Kelley JM, Lembo AJ, Ablon JS, et al. Patient and practitioner influences on the placebo effect in irritable bowel syndrome. Psychosom Med. 2009;71(7):789–797.

30.

Matsumoto DR, Frank MG, Hwang HS. Nonverbal Communication Science and Applications. Los Angeles, CA: Sage; 2013.

31.

Shapiro J. Perspective: does medical education promote professional alexithymia? A call for attending to the emotions of patients and self in medical training. Acad Med. 2011;86(3):326–332.

32.

Sternlieb JL. A guide to introducing and integrating reflective practices in medical education. Int J Psychiatry Med. 2015;49(1):95–105.

33.

Morton DL, Watson A, El-Deredy W, Jones AK. Reproducibility of placebo analgesia: effect of dispositional optimism. Pain. 2009;146(1–2):194–198.

34.

Geers AL, Kosbab K, Helfer SG, Weiland PE, Wellman JA. Further evidence for individual differences in placebo responding: an interactionist perspective. J Psychosom Res. 2007;62(5):563–570.

35.

Peciña M, Azhar H, Love TM, et al. Personality trait predictors of placebo analgesia and neurobiological correlates. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2013;38(4):639–646.

36.

Lyby PS, Aslaksen PM, Flaten MA. Is fear of pain related to placebo analgesia? J Psychosom Res. 2010;68(4):369–377.

37.

Lyby PS, Forsberg JT, Asli O, Flaten MA. Induced fear reduces the effectiveness of a placebo intervention on pain. Pain. 2012;153(5):1114–1121.

38.

Aslaksen PM, Lyby PS. Fear of pain potentiates nocebo hyperalgesia. J Pain Res. 2015;8:703–710.

39.

Wager TD, Atlas LY, Leotti LA, Rilling JK. Predicting individual differences in placebo analgesia: contributions of brain activity during anticipation and pain experience. J Neurosci. 2011;31(2):439–452.

40.

Conrad R, Schilling G, Bausch C, et al. Temperament and character personality profiles and personality disorders in chronic pain patients. Pain. 2007;133(1–3):197–209.

41.

Conrad R, Wegener I, Geiser F, Kleiman A. Temperament, character, and personality disorders in chronic pain. Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2013;17(3):318.

42.

Kaptchuk TJ, Stason WB, Davis RB, et al. Sham device v inert pill: randomised controlled trial of two placebo treatments. BMJ. 2006;332(7538):391–397.

43.

Cummings M. Modellvorhaben Akupunktur-a summary of the ART, ARC and GERAC trials. Acupunct Med. 2009;27(1):26–30.

44.

Campbell J. The Flight of the Wild Gander: Explorations in the Mythological Dimension: Selected Essays, 1944–1968. Novato, CA: New World Library; 2002.

45.

Häuser W, Bartram-Wunn E, Bartram C, Reinecke H, Tölle T. Systematic review: placebo response in drug trials of fibromyalgia syndrome and painful peripheral diabetic neuropathy-magnitude and patient-related predictors. Pain. 2011;152(8):1709–1717.

46.

Atlas LY, Whittington RA, Lindquist MA, Wielgosz J, Sonty N, Wager TD. Dissociable influences of opiates and expectations on pain. J Neurosci. 2012;32(23):8053–8064.

47.

Porter ME. What is value in health care? N Engl J Med. 2010;363(26):2477–2481.

48.

Bazari H. Gratitude, memories, and meaning in medicine. N Engl J Med. 2010;363(23):2187–2189.

Dove Medical Press encourages responsible, free and frank academic debate. The content of the Journal of Pain Research ‘Editorial’ section does not necessarily represent the views of Dove Medical Press, its officers, agents, employees, related entities or the Journal of Pain Research editors. While all reasonable steps have been taken to confirm the content of each Editorial, Dove Medical Press accepts no liability in respect of the content of any Editorial, nor is it responsible for the content and accuracy of any Editorial.

Creative Commons License © 2016 The Author(s). This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution - Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License. By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms.