Scientists found that when you combine expecting pain relief with a learning process (like getting a fake treatment that works like real medicine), it's the only way to actually reduce both how much pain people feel and their body's stress response to pain from electric shocks.

40

Pro

0

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 different types of placebo treatments on people receiving painful electric shocks. Only the group that got both expectation and conditioning together showed reduced pain ratings AND reduced skin conductance (a measure of stress response). This confirms what the claim says.

Contradicting (0)

0

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

0

77%

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

0

76%