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Placebo Effects in Idiopathic and Neuropathic Pain Conditions

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Placebo

Part of the book series: Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology ((HEP,volume 225))

Abstract

The magnitude of placebo analgesia effect appears to be large in chronic pain patients experiencing hyperalgesic states. So far, placebo effects have primarily been investigated in idiopathic pain conditions, such as irritable bowel pain syndrome, but more recently they have also been investigated in neuropathic pain patients, in which the underlying nerve injury is known. Expected pain levels and emotional feelings are central to placebo effects in both types of pain. They appear to help patients to engage in a mindset for pain relief and activate the pain-modulating system. Furthermore, expectations, emotional feelings, and the experience of pain seem to interact over time, thereby maintaining or enhancing the pain-relieving effect. Expectations and emotional feelings also contribute to the effect of active drugs, and recent studies indicate that drug effects and placebo effects interact in ways that may complicate the interpretations of the findings from clinical trials. It is suggested that expectations and emotional feelings may act as additional or alternative measures in the testing of new pharmacological agents, thereby improving the understanding of the interaction between pharmacological effects and placebo effects, which may have far-reaching implications for research and clinical practice.

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Acknowledgment

“The research leading to these results is part of the Europain Collaboration, which has received support from the Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Undertaking, under Grant Agreement No. 115007, resources of which are composed of financial contribution from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) and EFPIA companies’ in kind contribution” www.imi.europa.eu. The funding source had the possibility to comment on the design and reporting of the study, but had no role in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data and decision to submit for publication. Ethical approval: This study was approved by the ethical committee of the Central Denmark Region

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, School of Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

    Lene Vase & Gitte Laue Petersen

  2. Danish Pain Research Center, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark

    Lene Vase, Gitte Laue Petersen & Karen Lund

Authors
  1. Lene Vase
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  2. Gitte Laue Petersen
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  3. Karen Lund
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lene Vase .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Neuroscience Department and National Institute of Neuroscience Labs, University of Turin Medical School, Turin, Italy

    Fabrizio Benedetti

  2. Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University Hospitals Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany

    Paul Enck

  3. Neuroscience Department and National Institute of Neuroscience Labs, University of Turin Medical School, Turin, Italy

    Elisa Frisaldi

  4. Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Immunobiology, University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany

    Manfred Schedlowski

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Vase, L., Petersen, G.L., Lund, K. (2014). Placebo Effects in Idiopathic and Neuropathic Pain Conditions. In: Benedetti, F., Enck, P., Frisaldi, E., Schedlowski, M. (eds) Placebo. Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology, vol 225. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44519-8_7

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