Today we present 21 new placebo and nocebo research papers, book chapters, comments and abstracts identified during January 2025. As usual, they are based on new PUBMED publication using the search terms „placebo“ and „nocebo“ and are hand-selected from more than 1032 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.
Benedetti, F., Thoen, W., Shaibani, A., & Arduino, C. (2025).
Placebo nonresponders: An experimental investigation on their unreliability over time. J Pain, 28, 104777. doi:10.1016/j.jpain.2025.104777
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39805378
Boers, M. (2025).
Avoiding placebo as control treatment in rheumatology trials: can we do better? Comment on the article by Kivitz et al. Arthritis Rheumatol. doi:10.1002/art.43107
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39780032
Bush, N. J., Cushnie, A. K., Boissoneault, J., Aghabeigi, S., Alexander, C., Staud, R., & Robinson, M. E. (2025).
The Two Sides of Placebo Analgesia: Differential Functional Connectivity Reveals Mechanisms of Placebo Analgesic Response. J Pain Res, 18, 189-201. doi:10.2147/JPR.S483157
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39816204
Colloca, L., & Fava, M. (2024).
What should constitute a control condition in psychedelic drug trials? Nat Ment Health, 2(10), 1152-1160. doi:10.1038/s44220-024-00321-2
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39781538
Faasse, K., Gasteiger, C., Borgmann, A., Choi, J., & Petrie, K. J. (2025).
Side effects following administration of open-placebos: A randomized controlled trial. J Psychosom Res, 189, 112028. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2024.112028
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39752761
Gomeni, R., & Bressolle-Gomeni, F. (2025).
Comparison of Different Machine Learning Methodologies for Predicting the Non-Specific Treatment Response in Placebo Controlled Major Depressive Disorder Clinical Trials. Clin Transl Sci, 18(1), e70128. doi:10.1111/cts.70128
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39807769
Handoko, K., Neppach, A., Snyder, I., Karim, H. T., Dombrovski, A. Y., & Pecina, M. (2025).
Expectancy-Mood Neural Dynamics Predict Mechanisms of Short- and Long-Term Antidepressant Placebo Effects. Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging. doi:10.1016/j.bpsc.2025.01.002
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39805555
Holsken, S., Krefting, F., Muhlhaus, S., Bese, D., Schedlowski, M., & Sondermann, W. (2025).
Shaping Treatment Expectation to Optimize Efficacy of Interleukin 17A Antagonist Secukinumab in Psoriasis Patients. Psoriasis (Auckl), 15, 9-22. doi:10.2147/PTT.S486338 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39810930
Horn, N., Gartner, L., Rastan, A. J., Andrasi, T. B., Lenz, J., Boning, A., Salzmann-Djufri, M., Puvogel, U., Niemann, B., Genovese, M., Habash, S., Euteneuer, F., Rief, W. & Salzmann, S. (2025).
Effects of a preoperative psychological expectation-focused intervention in patients undergoing valvular surgery – the randomized controlled ValvEx (valve patients’ expectations) study. Am Heart J, 282, 156-169. doi:10.1016/j.ahj.2025.01.006
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39827935
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
Li, R., Srinakarin, K., Vega, R., Murray, C. B., & Palermo, T. M. (2025).
Treatment expectations and pain-related outcomes in clinical trials of digital cognitive-behavioral therapy for youth with chronic pain. J Pain, 28, 104791. doi:10.1016/j.jpain.2025.104791
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39826678
Neyama, H., Wu, Y., Nakaya, Y., Kato, S., Shimizu, T., Tahara, T., Shigeta, M., Inoue, M., Miyamichi, K., Matsushita, N., Mashimo, T., Miyasaka, Y., Dai, Y., Noguchi, K., Watanabe, Y., Kobayashi, M., Kobayashi, K. & Cui, Y. (2025).
Opioidergic activation of the descending pain inhibitory system underlies placebo analgesia. Sci Adv, 11(3), eadp8494. doi:10.1126/sciadv.adp8494
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39813331
Prati, R. (2025).
Listening to placebos: the contested lessons of antidepressants debates. Hist Philos Life Sci, 47(1), 3. doi:10.1007/s40656-024-00656-0
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39786698
Raghuraman, N., Akintola, T., Rassu, F. S., O’Connor, T. D., Chen, S., Gruber-Baldini, A., & Colloca, L. (2025).
The effects of socioeconomic position on endogenous pain modulation: A quasi-experimental approach. J Pain, 104778. doi:10.1016/j.jpain.2025.104778
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39800249
Rubanets, D., Badzinska, J., Honcharova, S., Babel, P., & Bajcar, E. A. (2025).
As different as fear and anxiety: Introducing the fear and anxiety model of placebo hypoalgesia and nocebo hyperalgesia. Psychol Rev. doi:10.1037/rev0000521
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39760714
Schafer, L. N., & Rief, W. (2024).
The influence of expectations on shame, rumination and cognitive flexibility: an experimental investigation on affect-regulatory characteristics of deceptive placebos. Front Psychol, 15, 1502460. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1502460
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39868023
Smoliga, J. M., Bleakley, C., & Pearce, A. J. (2025).
Is It All in Your Head? Placebo Effects in Concussion Prevention. Sports Med. doi:10.1007/s40279-024-02158-2
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39777706
Souza, M., Amaral, M. J. M., Lima, L. C. V., & Villela-Nogueira, C. A. (2025).
Meta-Analysis of Placebo-Treated Patients: Dropout Rates From Treatment in MASH Randomised Controlled Trials. Aliment Pharmacol Ther, 61(5), 776-786. doi:10.1111/apt.18498
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39807647
Spotts, E. K., Miller, F. G., & Geers, A. L. (2025).
Individual difference factors that predict evaluations and acceptance of authorized concealment for the reduction of nocebo side effects. Patient Educ Couns, 134, 108676. doi:10.1016/j.pec.2025.108676
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39864354
Teixeira, M. Z. (2025).
Trilingual e-book: Homeopathy is not Placebo Effect. Homeopathy. doi:10.1055/s-0044-1793940
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39761675
van Lennep, J. P. A., Meijer, S., Karacaoglu, M., Rippe, R., Peerdeman, K. J., van Middendorp, H., & Evers, A. W. M. (2025).
Do patients with fibromyalgia syndrome and healthy people differ in their opinions on placebo effects in routine medical care? Pain Pract, 25(2), e70000. doi:10.1111/papr.70000
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39868837
Placebo in the media
iai News: „New theory of placebos reframes mind-body problem – Why the placebo effect works, even when you are expecting it“ by Dien Ho
https://iai.tv/articles/new-theory-of-placebos-reframes-mind-body-problem-auid-3022?_auid=2020
Download PDF here.