Presenting a sham treatment as personalised increases the placebo effect in a randomised controlled trial.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Tailoring interventions to patient subgroups can improve intervention outcomes for various conditions. However, it is unclear how much of this improvement is due to the pharmacological personalisation versus the non-specific effects of the contextual factors involved in the tailoring process, such as the therapeutic interaction. Here, we tested whether presenting a (placebo) analgesia machine as personalised would improve its effectiveness.

Methods

We recruited 102 adults in two samples (N₁=17, N₂=85) to receive painful heat stimulations on their forearm. During half of the stimulations, a machine purportedly delivered an electric current to reduce their pain. The participants were either told that the machine was personalised t

SUBMITTER: Sandra DA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10325710 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature