PLACEBO - NOCEBO

2.AUTHOR Schweiger-A, Parducci-A.
INSTITUTIONUniversity of California Los Angeles.
TITLE Nocebo: the psychologic induction of pain.
SOURCE Pavlov-J-Biol-Sci 1981 Jul-Sep, VOL: 16 (3), P: 140-3, ISSN: 0093-2213.

ABSTRACT

More than two-thirds of an unselected sample of 34 college students reported mild headaches when told that a (nonexistent) electric current was passing through their heads. These reports appeared independent of whether the instructions emphasized the headache- producing effect of the current or whether the emphasis was on a perceptual task, with headache as only a possible side effect. The results are consistent with a view of pain as localized stress. They provide additional grounds for the suspicion that clinical focusing on pain may itself be a cause of pain. Author.

Copyright © 2008 Electronic Handbook of Legal Medicine