nocebo effect
Negative belief consequence
The nocebo effect is when negative expectations cause harm—the dark twin of the placebo effect.
A patient warned about a drug's side effects may experience them even when given a sugar pill.
The effect demonstrates how belief and anxiety can produce real physical symptoms: Researchers had to account for the nocebo effect in the trial.
Mind-induced bodily illness
- conditioningLearned behavioral adaptation
- self-fulfilling prophecyBelief causing its own realization
- anticipationState of awaiting something
- fearEmotional response to threat
anxiety · dread · apprehension · pessimism · perception · mindset · belief · somatization
Tested against inactive substance
- double-blindNeither tester nor tested knows
- control groupUntreated subjects for comparison
- informed consentPermission given with understanding
- clinical trialHuman subject research experiment
randomized · blinding · disclosure · ethics · methodology · warning labels · efficacy · baseline
Harmful response to intervention
- worseningBecoming more severe
- aggravationState of being vexed
- malaiseDiffuse, sourceless discomfort
- discomfortMild physical or mental distress
nausea · headache · fatigue · dizziness · insomnia · exacerbation · distress · hypersensitivity
Folk magic, often Caribbean
- curseInvoked harm through words
- hexMalevolent incantation
- evil eyeHarm-dealing gaze, supposedly
- health anxietyExcessive worry about illness
Reasons to avoid treatment
- therapeutic relationshipPatient-practitioner trust bond
- medicalizationReframing problems as disorders
psychosomatic
Mind-induced bodily illness
- conditioningLearned behavioral adaptation
- self-fulfilling prophecyBelief causing its own realization
- anticipationState of awaiting something
fear · anxiety · dread · apprehension · pessimism · perception · mindset · belief · somatization · cognitive bias
placebo-controlled
Tested against inactive substance
- double-blindNeither tester nor tested knows
- control groupUntreated subjects for comparison
- informed consentPermission given with understanding
clinical trial · randomized · blinding · disclosure · ethics · methodology · warning labels · efficacy · baseline · compliance
adverse reaction
Harmful response to intervention
- worseningBecoming more severe
- aggravationState of being vexed
- malaiseDiffuse, sourceless discomfort
discomfort · nausea · headache · fatigue · dizziness · insomnia · exacerbation · distress · hypersensitivity · intolerance
voodoo
Folk magic, often Caribbean
health anxiety · media influence · misinformation · social contagion
contraindications
Reasons to avoid treatment
- therapeutic relationshipPatient-practitioner trust bond
- medicalizationReframing problems as disorders
- placebosugar pill, dummy pill
- Placebosplacebo response, sugar pill, dummy pill, placebo-controlled
- psychosomatic disordersconversion disorder, functional disorder, hypochondriasis, somatization, hysterical blindness
- painache, pain, agony, hurt, hurting
- drug effectsanalgesia, allergic reaction, stimulation, vasodilation, vasoconstriction
- research errorsmeasurement error, sampling error, systematic error, selection bias, confirmation bias
nocebo effectplacebo effect
Healing through expectation
placebo response · faith healing · positive thinking · optimism bias
nocebo effectplacebo effect
Healing through expectation
symptom relief · recovery · cure · remission
nocebo, effect, effects, effective, effectively, effectiveness, ineffective, effectual, ineffectual