When people expect a pain treatment to work (even if it's just a fake treatment), they often feel less pain - but a new study shows their spinal cord's response to pain signals actually gets stronger, not weaker.

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Pro

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Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

40

Community contributions welcome

40

The Influence of Placebo Analgesia Manipulations on Pain Report, the Nociceptive Flexion Reflex, and Autonomic Responses to Pain.

Randomized Controlled Trial

Human

2018 Nov

The study tested people receiving placebo cream with different types of suggestion (expectations only, conditioning only, or both). It found that people who got expectations (either alone or with conditioning) had increased spinal nerve responses (NFR) even though they reported less pain - exactly what the claim says.

Contradicting (0)

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Community contributions welcome

No contradicting evidence found

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Source Study

The Influence of Placebo Analgesia Manipulations on Pain Report, the Nociceptive Flexion Reflex, and Autonomic Responses to Pain.

Score: 40

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpain.2018.04.012

Similar Assertions

When researchers tell people a pain treatment will work but don't actually give them any real treatment, it seems to make their automatic pain reflex stronger, but doesn't change how much pain they report feeling or how their body reacts to pain.

40

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84%

A fake pain treatment that only uses learned associations from past experiences doesn't actually change how much pain people feel or how their body automatically reacts to pain.

40

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73%