Title
Susceptibility to Nocebo Hyperalgesia, Dispositional Optimism, and Trait Anxiety as Predictors of Nocebo Hyperalgesia Reduction
Author
Karacaoglu, Merve (Universiteit Leiden; Leiden Institute for Brain & Cognition, Leiden)
Meijer, Simone (Universiteit Leiden; Leiden Institute for Brain & Cognition, Leiden)
Peerdeman, Kaya J. (Universiteit Leiden; Leiden Institute for Brain & Cognition, Leiden)
Dusseldorp, Elise (Universiteit Leiden; Leiden Institute for Brain & Cognition, Leiden)
Jensen, Karin B. (Karolinska Institutet)
Veldhuijzen, Dieuwke S. (Universiteit Leiden; Leiden Institute for Brain & Cognition, Leiden)
van Middendorp, Henriët (Universiteit Leiden; Leiden Institute for Brain & Cognition, Leiden)
Evers, A.W.M. (TU Delft Applied Ergonomics and Design; Universiteit Leiden; Leiden University Medical Center; Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam; Leiden Institute for Brain & Cognition, Leiden; Medical Delta)
Date
2023
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: The current paper explores the psychological predictors of nocebo hyperalgesia and whether the reduction of nocebo hyperalgesia can be predicted by susceptibility to nocebo hyperalgesia and psychological characteristics. METHODS: Nocebo effects on pressure pain were first experimentally induced in 83 healthy female participants through conditioning with open-label instructions about the pain-worsening function of a sham TENS device to assess susceptibility to nocebo hyperalgesia. Participants were then randomized to 1 out of 2 nocebo-reduction conditions (counterconditioning/extinction) or to continued nocebo-conditioning (control), each combined with open-label instructions about the new sham device function. Dispositional optimism, trait and state anxiety, pain catastrophizing, fear of pain, and body vigilance were assessed at baseline. RESULTS: The results showed that lower optimism and higher trait anxiety were related to a stronger induction of nocebo hyperalgesia. Moreover, a stronger induction of nocebo hyperalgesia and higher trait anxiety predicted a larger nocebo reduction across interventions. Also, nocebo hyperalgesia and optimism moderated the effects of the nocebo-reduction interventions, whereby larger nocebo hyperalgesia and lower optimism were associated with a larger nocebo reduction after counterconditioning, compared with control, and also extinction for larger nocebo hyperalgesia. DISCUSSION: Our findings suggest that open-label conditioning leads to stronger nocebo hyperalgesia when trait anxiety is high and dispositional optimism is low, while these psychological characteristics, along with larger nocebo hyperalgesia, also predict open-label counterconditioning to be an effective nocebo-reduction strategy. Susceptibility to nocebo hyperalgesia, trait anxiety, and dispositional optimism might be indicators of a flexible pain regulatory system.
Subject
Nocebo effect
pressure pain
hyperalgesia
prediction
counterconditioning
To reference this document use:
http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:90628c33-a98f-4861-bbe4-6f2333a62a7a
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1097/AJP.0000000000001112
Source
The Clinical journal of pain, 39 (6), 259-269
Part of collection
Institutional Repository
Document type
journal article
Rights
© 2023 Merve Karacaoglu, Simone Meijer, Kaya J. Peerdeman, Elise Dusseldorp, Karin B. Jensen, Dieuwke S. Veldhuijzen, Henriët van Middendorp, A.W.M. Evers