Placebo effect/Bibliography

Selection of Reviews on The Placebo Effect
This is a selected subset of the review articles that were published in peer-reviewed academic journals about the placebo effect in 2007-2008.

Brain Imaging Studies


 * Diederich NJ, Goetz CG.(2008) The placebo treatments in neurosciences: New insights from clinical and neuroimaging studies. Neurology 71:677-84 PMID 18725593 "A positive placebo response is seen in up to 50% of patients with Parkinson disease (PD), pain syndromes, and depression. The response is more pronounced with invasive procedures or advanced disease."


 * Oken BS (2008) Placebo effects: clinical aspects and neurobiology.Brain 131:2812-23. PMID 18567924 ''"Recent research in placebo analgesia and other conditions has demonstrated that several neurotransmitter systems, such as opiate and dopamine, are involved with the placebo effect. Brain regions including anterior cingulate cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia have been activated following administration of placebo. A patient's expectancy of improvement may influence outcomes as much as some active interventions and this effect may be greater for novel interventions and for procedures"


 * Kong J, Kaptchuk TJ, Polich G, Kirsch I, Gollub RL. (2007) Placebo analgesia: findings from brain imaging studies and emerging hypotheses.Rev Neurosci18:173-90. PMID 18019605 "...placebo treatment may exert an analgesic effect on at least three stages of pain processing, by 1) influencing pre-stimulus expectation of pain relief, 2) modifying pain perception, and 3) distorting post-stimulus pain rating."
 * Price DD, Finniss DG, Benedetti F (2008) A comprehensive review of the placebo effect: recent advances and current thought. Annu Rev Psychol 59:565-90. PMID 17550344 - major review article; "Placebo factors have neurobiological underpinnings and actual effects on the brain and body. They are not just response biases."

Nocebo responses
 * Schenk PW. (2008) 'Just breathe normally': word choices that trigger nocebo responses in patients. Am J Nurs 108:52-7.PMID 18316911 "Negative reactions to placebo medications -- sometimes called "nocebo effects" -- are well documented. Similar responses can be induced in suggestible patients when providers use language that tends to increase patients' stress and negative expectations."

Trust
 * Lee YY, Lin JL (2008) Linking patients' trust in physicians to health outcomes. Br J Hosp Med (Lond) 69:42-6 PMID 18293731 "The consequences of patients' trust in physicians and the practical implications of trust to quality patient care are presented."