Expectations and associations that heal: Immunomodulatory placebo effects and its neurobiology

@article{PachecoLpez2006Expectations,
  title={
 Expectations and associations that heal: Immunomodulatory placebo effects and its neurobiology},
  author={Gustavo Pacheco-L{\'o}pez and Harald Engler and Maj-Britt Niemi and Manfred Schedlowski},
  journal={Brain, Behavior, and Immunity},
  year={2006},
  volume={20},
  pages={430-446}
}
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159 Citations
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159 Citations

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The neuro-bio-behavioral mechanisms underlying placebo and nocebo responses that are currently known in terms of different diseases and physiologic systems are summarized and critically examined.
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References

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This work presents the historical changes of the concept of placebo and the ethical issues raised by their use, and suggests that progress in this area may promote useful clinical applications, enabling physicians to broaden their perspectives on the healing process.
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Belief or Need? Accounting for individual variations in the neurochemistry of the placebo effect
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TLDR
The effects of opposing verbal suggestions on experimental ischemic arm pain in healthy volunteers and on motor performance in Parkinsonian patients are analyzed and found that verbally induced expectations of analgesia/hyperalgesia and motor improvement/worsening antagonized completely the effects of a conditioning procedure.
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