Unsolved, Forgotten, and Ignored Features of the Placebo Response in Medicine

Abstract

The biggest threat for placebo research is that it may outdate itself by declaring all and everything as a placebo effect even if there may be better terms and concepts (eg, patient expectations, doctor-patient communication, empathy), and by ignoring that medicine continuously changes its face, for patients as well as for clinical researchers. Its biggest opportunity is the fact that it, as no other topic in medicine, requires both medical and psychological experts for its exploration and to stay updated.

Living systematic reviews, not only for clinical (placebo) research

“…We are currently working with a bibliometric research institute on an indepth review of the database for meta-data analysis (authors/origin, citation, journal, and so forth) and to identify time and topic trends in the database by content analysis of the full articles. We are alsodin line with one of the articles of the published series [2]din preparation for a machine-learning approach, e.g., to identify an optimized search-term strategy in medical databases that could replace the tedious hand-based selection procedure described previously and may not only save time but also promote identification of unsolved, forgotten, or ignored features in (e.g., placebo) the research [7].…”

“…Currently, quantifying the risk of SPCs is of particular importance because the number of cancer survivors continues to grow, due to more frequent early detection as well as advances in therapy [7] reaching an estimated 32.5 million 5-year survivors worldwide in 2012 [8]. The present worked example shows that, with the occurrence of competing events, e.g., death, there is an…”

Psychotherapy and Placebos: Manifesto for Conceptual Clarity

“…First, and perhaps most importantly the term “placebo” has been in use for centuries and is embedded within common lay as well as medical usage, further obstructing the possibility of clear and unambiguous meaning change. Second, even if we agree that scientific research into placebo effects is burgeoning—as a field of enquiry it has emerged only recently ( 14 , 18 ). Therefore, we might still expect to observe a residual hangover of conceptual disputes regardless of whether such disagreement is substantive.…”

Placebos, Active Placebos, and Clinical Trials

“…At my request, he has asked a number of his colleagues to contribute their perspectives about PBOs and new studies that elucidate what PBOs do and do not do. [12][13][14][15][16][17] In his own contribution, 13 Dr. Dodd also discusses processes implicated in the nocebo reaction, a term coined in 1961 by Walter Kennedy to describe negative outcomes after PBO treatment. 18 Richard I Shader, MD Editor-in-Chief E-mail address: jclinicaltherapeutics@gmail.com…”