How Expectations and Conditioning Affect Pain Relief
The Influence of Placebo Analgesia Manipulations on Pain Report, the Nociceptive Flexion Reflex, and Autonomic Responses to Pain.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Nociceptive flexion reflex (NFR) was FACILITATED in both E+C and E-only groups
This contradicts the common expectation that placebo analgesia would reduce spinal pain processing, just like it reduces conscious pain. Instead, spinal nociception increased while pain reports decreased or stayed the same.
Practical Takeaways
If you want maximum placebo effect for pain relief, combine positive expectations with prior positive experiences
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Nociceptive flexion reflex (NFR) was FACILITATED in both E+C and E-only groups
This contradicts the common expectation that placebo analgesia would reduce spinal pain processing, just like it reduces conscious pain. Instead, spinal nociception increased while pain reports decreased or stayed the same.
Practical Takeaways
If you want maximum placebo effect for pain relief, combine positive expectations with prior positive experiences
Publication
Journal
The journal of pain : official journal of the American Pain Society
Year
2018
Authors
J. Rhudy, Y. Güereca, B. Kuhn, S. Palit, M. Flaten
Related Content
Claims (6)
When people get treatment for pain, sometimes they feel better just because they expect to feel better - not because the treatment actually changed anything in their body.
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.
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.
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.
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.