placebo and nocebo effects
A recent summary article reviewed both placebo and nocebo effects, reflecting respectively increases in beneficial or harmful results (s ee placebo nocebo review nejm2020 in dropbox , or DOI: 10.1056/NEJMra1907805 ). These placebo/nocebo effects occur in clinical trials (specifically comparing an active agent with placebo), informing patients about medical treatments, and public health campaigns Details: -- placebo effects can be associated with the release of various hormones including endogenous opioids, endocannabinoids, dopamine, oxytocin, and vasopressin. -- these effects seem to be specific: for example the placebo effect in patients with Parkinson’s disease seems to b e specific to dopamine release, though dopamine release is not associated with placebo effects on acute or chronic pain -- patients subjected to experimental pain had benefit from the potent opioid remifentanil; but those p...