The Optimal Learning Cocktail for Placebo Analgesia: A Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing Individual and Combined Techniques

This study investigated for the first time the effects of individual and combined application of 3 learning techniques (verbal suggestions, classical conditioning, and observational learning) on placebo analgesia and extinction. Healthy participants (N = 206) were assigned to 8 different groups in which they were taught through either a...

The power of placebo: Designing for contextual healing - fostering placebo mechanisms by increasing patients’ belief in physiotherapeutic hand treatments

Research in medicine and psychology has demonstrated that placebo treatments can lead to clinically meaningful effects which are created by the context of the treatment. Therapeutic rituals are acknowledged as the core of contextual healing effects. To design for contextual healing in clinical practice, more insight is needed in the key...