Today we present 24 new placebo and nocebo research papers, book chapters, comments and abstracts identified during December 2024. As usual, they are based on new PUBMED publication using the search terms „placebo“ and „nocebo“ and are hand-selected from more than 1001 new publications during the preceding month. Previously published monthly updates can be found in our archive. Todays selection as well as all previously identified papers will also go into our placebo research library that currently contains around 5,400 relevant papers. If you would like to get access to the full database, please register for our newsletter and provide us with your email address and affiliation.
Bamberg, C., & Roefs, A. (2024).
The impact of dietary claims on behaviour: Expectations qualify how actual satiety affects cognitive performance. Appetite, 206, 107823. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2024.107823
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39681142
Bernardini, S., & Dei, A. (2024).
Commentary: Working with patients’ treatment expectations – what we can learn from homeopathy. Front Psychol, 15, 1477034. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1477034
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39737245
Bierman, S. F., Weil, A., & Dahmer, S. (2024).
Placebo and the law of identification. Front Psychiatry, 15, 1474558. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1474558
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39713767
Camerone, E. M., Tosi, G., & Romano, D. (2024).
The role of pain expectancy and its confidence in placebo hypoalgesia and nocebo hyperalgesia. Pain. doi:10.1097/j.pain.0000000000003495
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39679646
Car, E., Vandenplas, Y., Lacosta, T. B., Simoens, S., Huys, I., Vulto, A. G., & Barbier, L. (2024).
Mitigating the Nocebo Effect in Biosimilar Use and Switching: A Systematic Review. Pharmaceut Med, 38(6), 429-455. doi:10.1007/s40290-024-00541-y
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39612120
Crawford, L. S. (2024).
Past the limits of pain: placebo and nocebo effects in visual processing reveal novel behavioural and brain markers of the twin phenomena. J Physiol, 602(24), 6639-6640. doi:10.1113/JP287678
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39651892
Desai, K. G. (2025).
Subcutaneous Administration of Therapeutic Monoclonal Antibody Drug Products Using a Syringe in Blinded Clinical Trials: Advances and Key Aspects Related to Blinding/Matching/Masking Strategies for Placebo Formulation. Mol Pharm. doi:10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.4c01166
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39745002
Hardman, D., & Miller, F. (2024).
A worthwhile wager: the ethics of open-label placebo treatment in clinical practice. J Med Ethics. doi:10.1136/jme-2024-110270
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39725493
Huang, K., Lv, M., Zheng, T., Wang, F., Tang, X., & Lv, L. (2024).
Herbal placebo response in clinical trials on irritable bowel syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Front Pharmacol, 15, 1475366. doi:10.3389/fphar.2024.1475366
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39669195
Kerr, W. T., Suprun, M., Kok, N., Reddy, A. S., McFarlane, K. N., Kwan, P., Somerville, E., Bagiella, E. & French, J. A. (2024).
Factors associated with placebo response rate in randomized controlled trials of antiseizure medications for focal epilepsy. Epilepsia. doi:10.1111/epi.18197
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39707877
Lanz, M., Hoffmann, V., & Meissner, K. (2024).
Satiety-enhancing placebo intervention decreases selective attention to food cues. Front Psychiatry, 15, 1472532. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1472532
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39748906
Marras, C., Labarga, M., Ginard, D., Carrascosa, J. M., Escudero-Contreras, A., Collantes-Estevez, E., ©de Mora, F., Robles, T., Romero, E. & Martinez, R. (2024).
An Educational Digital Tool to Improve the Implementation of Switching to a Biosimilar (Rapid Switch Trainer): Tool Development and Validation Study. JMIR Form Res, 8, e56553. doi:10.2196/56553
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39622680
Mishra, A., Chandra Sarangi, S., & Reeta, K. H. (2024).
Effect of Deceptive Versus Non-Deceptive Placebo on Psychomotor and Cognitive Functions in Healthy Adult Human Volunteers: An Open-Label Cross-over Randomized Controlled Trial. Psychiatr Danub, 36(3-4), 340-350. doi:10.24869/psyd.2024.340
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39724121
Predatu, P., David, D., Kirsch, I., Florean, I. S., & Predatu, R. (2024).
A randomized trial investigating the impact of response expectancy on the counting blessings intervention: the role of optimism as a moderator. Front Psychol, 15, 1399425. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1399425
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39691669
Predatu, P., David, D., Kirsch, I., Florean, S., & Predatu, R. (2024).
Reciprocal relationships between positive expectancies and positive emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-lagged panel study. Psychol Health, 39(13), 1990-2012. doi:10.1080/08870446.2024.2341874
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38616530
Proulx-Begin, L., Jodoin, M., Brazeau, D., Herrero Babiloni, A., Provost, C., Rouleau, D. M., Arbour, C. & De Beaumont, L. (2025).
Does a Prolonged Sham Theta Burst Stimulation Intervention Regimen Outperform Standard Care in Terms of Functional Recovery and Pain Relief After an Upper Limb Fracture? Psychosom Med, 87(1), 84-92. doi:10.1097/PSY.0000000000001355
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39701573
Rief, W., & Kube, T. (2024).
[Placebo effect in the treatment with antidepressants: Implications for the scientific evaluation and clinical use of pharmaceutical treatments of depression]. Nervenarzt. doi:10.1007/s00115-024-01784-5
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39668233
Rodrigues, B., & Colloca, L. (2025).
Separating the Mechanisms of Mindfulness Meditation and Placebo. Biol Psychiatry, 97(1), 7-8. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2024.10.011
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39613385
Saueressig, T., Owen, P. J., Pedder, H., Kaczorowski, S., Miller, C. T., Donath, L., & Belavy, D. L. (2024).
Are some people more susceptible to placebos? A systematic review and meta-analysis of inter-individual variability in musculoskeletal pain. J Pain, 104745. doi:10.1016/j.jpain.2024.104745
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39613126
Schmidt, S., Loef, M., Ostermann, T., & Walach, H. (2024).
Treatment Effects in Pharmacological Clinical Randomized Controlled Trials are Mainly Due to Placebo. J Clin Epidemiol, 111658. doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2024.111658
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39733973
Shani, A., Granot, M., Agostinho, M. R., Rahamimov, N., & Treister, R. (2024).
The prediction of the analgesic placebo response is moderated by outward-focused attention: A sham, randomized clinical trial of chronic back pain patients. J Pain, 27, 104761. doi:10.1016/j.jpain.2024.104761
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39725051
Stein, M. V., Heller, M., Chapman, S., Rubin, G. J., & Terhune, D. B. (2025).
Trait responsiveness to verbal suggestions predicts nocebo responding: A meta-analysis. Br J Health Psychol, 30(1), e12774. doi:10.1111/bjhp.12774
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39707685
Wall, L., Bunzli, S., Nelson, E., Hawke, L. J., Genie, M., Hinwood, M., Lang, D., Dowsey, M. M., Clarke, P., Choong, P. F., Balogh, Z. J., Lohmander, L. S. & Paolucci, F. (2024).
Willingness to participate in placebo-controlled surgical trials of the knee. Bone Joint J, 106-B(12), 1408-1415. doi:10.1302/0301-620X.106B12.BJJ-2023-1266.R2
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39615522
Wittkamp, C. A., Wolf, M. I., & Rose, M. (2024).
The neural dynamics of positive and negative expectations of pain. Elife, 13. doi:10.7554/eLife.97793
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39620899
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