Enhancing Placebo Effects in Somatic Symptoms Through Oxytocin

Skvortsova, Aleksandrina; Veldhuijzen, Dieuwke S.; Middendorp, Henriët van; Bergh, Omer Van den; Evers, Andrea W M

doi:10.1097/psy.0000000000000571

Cited by 28 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 49 publications

(85 reference statements)

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“…In line with research into placebo effects on pain, experimental research has shown that the mere suggestion that an inert ointment is an active antipruritic drug can cause it to relieve itch . This effect does not appear robust however, as similar suggestions have not been observed to affect itch in other studies . Nocebo suggestions appear to have a more consistent effect on itch.…”

Section: Expectancy and Itchmentioning

confidence: 87%

What is new in the psychology of chronic itch?

Evers

Peerdeman

Laarhoven

2019

Experimental Dermatology

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Itch is often regarded as unpleasant or bothersome and is accompanied by symptoms of distress and impairments in daily life. The biopsychosocial model of chronic itch describes how psychological factors can contribute to the improvement or exacerbation of chronic itch and related scratching behaviour. Recent research underlines the important role of cognitive‐affective information processing, such as attention, affect and expectancies. This may not only play a role for acute itch states, but may particularly apply to the process of itch chronification, for example, due to the vicious cycle in which these factors shape the experience of itch. The present paper focuses on new insights into the relation between itch and the cognitive‐affective factors of attention, affect and expectancies. These factors are thought to play a possible aggravating role in itch in the long term and have received increasing attention in the recent empirical literature on maintaining and exacerbating factors for chronic physical symptoms. Possible psychophysiological and neurobiological pathways regarding these factors are discussed, as well as possible intervention methods.

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Section: Expectancy and Itchmentioning

confidence: 87%

What is new in the psychology of chronic itch?

Evers

Peerdeman

Laarhoven

2019

Experimental Dermatology

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“…Eighty healthy male volunteers between 18 and 36 years old participated in this study. Male participants were recruited since previous studies reported on the oxytocin boosting placebo analgesia in men 27 and not in women 38 and oxytocin fluctuations during the menstrual cycle can be an interfering factor in studying oxytocin effects in women. 33 Exclusion criteria were heart and lung diseases, high or low blood pressure, chronic or acute pain complains, heavy use of alcohol or other drugs, current diagnosis of psychiatric disorders, and current use of analgesic medications.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Kessner et al 27 demonstrated boosting effects of oxytocin on verbally induced placebo analgesia for experimentally induced pain. In contrast, Colloca et al 13 and Skvortsova et al 38 found no effects of oxytocin on verbally induced placebo analgesia. These 3 previous studies used verbal suggestions alone to induce placebo effects.…”

mentioning

confidence: 90%

Effects of Oxytocin on Placebo and Nocebo Effects in a Pain Conditioning Paradigm: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Skvortsova

Veldhuijzen

Middendorp

et al. 2020

The Journal of Pain

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“…Some studies have reported that intranasal oxytocin can enhance placebo analgesia [4] and even generate both placebo and nocebo effects in working memory performance [5] in men. However, several other recent studies on men [6] and women [7,8] found no evidence for effects of oxytocin. In an attempt to resolve these conflicting results Liu et al [9] have systematically re-evaluated the effects of intranasal oxytocin on placebo analgesia across sexes, dosages, and placebo effect induction paradigms in a large sample of subjects.…”

mentioning

confidence: 96%

Reply to the Letter to the Editor: “Lack of Evidence for the Effect of Oxytocin on Placebo Analgesia and Nocebo Hyperalgesia”

Becker

Zhao

Kendrick

2020

Psychother Psychosom

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in the placebo analgesia paradigms experimenters are involved in causing actual physical pain to subjects, this may even have contributed to a reduced trust in them. Interestingly, in a clinical context, patients who report greater similarities with and trust in their clinician tend to report greater reduction in pain after treatment [11]. Further studies therefore need to assess the extent to which trust in an expert may influence the ability of oxytocin to facilitate placebo effects.An important difference between the placebo analgesia studies and that reporting altered performance following oxytocin combined with verbal suggestion in working memory tasks is that in the latter, there was no placebo effect in the absence of oxytocin [5]. This raises the possibility that oxytocin may be more effective in enhancing the power of verbal suggestion in influencing complex cognitive behaviors that do not show pronounced placebo effects and are based on objective task performance rather than subjective ratings.During the last decade, the placebo effect has gained considerable attention in clinical and basic research. Although traditionally considered an unspecific confounder in treatment evaluation trials requiring strictly controlled designs [1], more recently potential enhancement of the placebo effect as a strategy to facilitate treatment responses in clinical samples has been considered [2]. A number of studies have considered whether the neuropeptide oxytocin, which increases attention to social cues and conformity to the opinions of trusted individuals [3], might enhance placebo effects. Some studies have reported that intranasal oxytocin can enhance placebo analgesia [4] and even generate both placebo and nocebo effects in working memory performance [5] in men. However, several other recent studies on men [6] and women [7,8] found no evidence for effects of oxytocin. In an attempt to resolve these conflicting results Liu et al. [9] have systematically re-evaluated the effects of intranasal oxytocin on placebo analgesia across sexes, dosages, and placebo effect induction paradigms in a large sample of subjects. They report no evidence for oxytocin enhancing either placebo or nocebo effects on analgesia.The study by Liu et al. [9] and other previous studies were powered sufficiently to detect effects of oxytocin on placebo analgesia, and while there are methodological differences between them, a parsimonious conclusion at this point is that oxytocin has no influence. However, an important consideration in this respect is that oxytocin rather than simply increasing trust in others may instead act to increase conformity to the opinions of only the most trusted experts [3,10]. Unfortunately, none of the studies conducted so far has quantified levels of trust by subjects in the experimenter(s), although interestingly in both studies reporting positive effects of oxytocin, experimenters in white coats identified as physicians/ medical experts gave the verbal suggestions. Thus, while subjects across the different analge...

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Enhancing Placebo Effects in Somatic Symptoms Through Oxytocin

Cited by 28 publications

References 49 publications

What is new in the psychology of chronic itch?

What is new in the psychology of chronic itch?

Effects of Oxytocin on Placebo and Nocebo Effects in a Pain Conditioning Paradigm: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Reply to the Letter to the Editor: “Lack of Evidence for the Effect of Oxytocin on Placebo Analgesia and Nocebo Hyperalgesia”

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