Human physiological responses to different types of human-dog interactions: A randomised crossover study.

Previous studies of human-dog interventions vary in terms of type of interaction, which is rarely quantified, leading to contradictory findings and limited comparability. To uncover the influence of different types of interactions, the present study investigated if it was possible to detect differences in immediate physiological measurements of healthy humans during different standardised types of interaction with a dog. Thirty-three healthy participants (women = 25, men = 8, >18 years) were exposed to four different test situations with standardised types of interaction intensity with a dog in random order: no dog present (CONTROL), looking at a dog (VISUAL), petting a dog (TACTILE) or performing tricks with a dog (ACTIVE).

Mindfulness Effects on Anxiety: Disentangling the Role of Decentering and Treatment Expectations.

Mindfulness interventions have been found to lower anxiety. However, the current literature has not adequately considered the role of its individual components and of placebo effects. In an online experiment using a balanced placebo design, we aimed to disentangle effects of decentering, a key component of mindfulness, and expectations, a key component of placebo effects, on anxiety related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conclusions Regarding the Role of Expectations in Placebo Analgesia Studies May Depend on How We Investigate It: A Meta-Analysis, Systematic Review, and Proposal for Methodological Discussions.

Objective: Expectations are highlighted as a key component in placebo effects. However, there are different approaches to whether and how placebo studies should account for expectations, and the direct contribution has yet to be estimated in meta-analyses. Using different methodological approaches, this meta-analysis and systematic review examines the extent to which expectations contribute to pain in placebo studies.

Nocebo belief and attitudes towards side effect disclosure: A general population-based online survey in Europe and North America.

Background: With evidence for large nocebo effects in pain, guidelines for nocebo-minimizing strategies regarding side effect disclosure are emerging. While the ethical implications and effectiveness of such strategies have been the subject of investigations, the perspective of healthcare users are missing despite the stakes for patient autonomy.

Methods: In an online survey, 2766 adults (≥18 years) from a general population sample in Europe and North America responded to questions related to nocebo familiarity, nocebo beliefs and attitudes towards side effect disclosure.

Efficacy of patient education and duloxetine, alone and in combination, for patients with multisystem functional somatic disorder: Study protocol for the EDULOX trial.

Background: Multisystem functional somatic disorder is characterized by specific patterns of persistent physical symptoms with a complex biopsychosocial etiology. The disorder can lead to disability and personal suffering. Current treatment options require specialized settings, therefore patients often wait a long time to receive specific treatment.

Effects of deep brain stimulation and verbal suggestions on pain in Parkinson's disease.

Background And Objectives: In Parkinson's disease (PD) patients, verbal suggestions have been shown to modulate motor and clinical outcomes in treatment with subthalamic deep brain stimulation (DBS). Furthermore, DBS may alleviate pain in PD. However, it is unknown if verbal suggestions influence DBS' effects on pain.

Placebo analgesia in physical and psychological interventions: Systematic review and meta-analysis of three-armed trials.

Background: The magnitude of placebo effects from physical and psychological 'sham' is unknown but could impact efficacy trials and treatment understanding. To quantify placebo effects, this systematic review of three-armed randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of physical and psychological interventions for pain compared outcomes in 'sham' control intervention and non-exposure arms.

Methods: RCTs with treatment, 'sham' control intervention, and non-exposure groups were included, enrolling adults with any pain.

The desire for side-effect information in pain treatment: an experimental analysis of contextual and individual difference factors.

Informing patients about potential side effects of pain treatment is a requirement that protects patients and aids decision making, but it increases the likelihood of unwanted nocebo side effects. If patients do not desire all side-effect information, it may be possible to ethically reduce nocebo effects through authorized concealment of side effects, whereby patients and clinicians engage in shared decision-making to regulate the disclosure of side-effect information. Currently, there is no experimental data clarifying the factors that causally influence desire for side-effect information in pain treatment.

The Biology of Placebo and Nocebo Effects on Experimental and Chronic Pain: State of the Art.

(1) Background: In recent years, placebo and nocebo effects have been extensively documented in different medical conditions, including pain. The scientific literature has provided strong evidence of how the psychosocial context accompanying the treatment administration can influence the therapeutic outcome positively (placebo effects) or negatively (nocebo effects). (2) Methods: This state-of-the-art paper aims to provide an updated overview of placebo and nocebo effects on pain.

Comparison of indirect treatment methods in migraine prevention to address differences in mode of administration.

Indirect treatment comparisons (ITCs) are anchored on a placebo comparator, and the placebo response may vary according to drug administration route. Migraine preventive treatment studies were used to evaluate ITCs and determine whether mode of administration influences placebo response and the overall study findings. Change from baseline in monthly migraine days produced by monoclonal antibody treatments (subcutaneous, intravenous) was compared using fixed-effects Bayesian network meta-analysis (NMA), network meta-regression (NMR), and unanchored simulated treatment comparison (STC).

Nocebo response in dentistry: A systematic review and meta-analysis of adverse events in analgesic trials of third molar removal.

Background: The nocebo response refers to the phenomenon where non-specific factors, including negative verbal suggestion and treatment expectations, cause adverse events (AE) following a placebo treatment. Non-specific factors are also likely to influence AE occurrence following administration of active pharmacological treatments.

Objective: This meta-analysis aimed to estimate the nocebo response in dentistry by assessing the AEs prevalence in placebo- and active arms of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) assessing analgesic treatment following third molar (M3) surgery.

Avoiding nocebo and other undesirable effects in chiropractic, osteopathy and physiotherapy: An invitation to reflect.

Introduction: While the placebo effect is increasingly recognised as a contributor to treatment effects in clinical practice, the nocebo and other undesirable effects are less well explored and likely underestimated. In the chiropractic, osteopathy and physiotherapy professions, some aspects of historical models of care may arguably increase the risk of nocebo effects.

Purpose: In this masterclass article, clinicians, researchers, and educators are invited to reflect on such possibilities, in an attempt to stimulate research and raise awareness for the mitigation of such undesirable effects.

Is laparoscopic excision for superficial peritoneal endometriosis helpful or harmful? Protocol for a double-blinded, randomised, placebo-controlled, three-armed surgical trial.

Introduction: Placebo-controlled surgical designs are recommended to ascertain treatment effects for elective surgeries when there is genuine doubt about the effectiveness of the surgery. Some elective surgeries for pain have been unable to show an effect beyond sham surgery, suggesting contributions from contextual factors. However, the nature of contextual factors in elective surgery is largely unexplored.

Blinding and sham control methods in trials of physical, psychological, and self-management interventions for pain (article II): a meta-analysis relating methods to trial results.

Sham interventions in randomized clinical trials (RCTs) of physical, psychological, and self-management (PPS) therapies for pain are highly variable in design and believed to contribute to poor internal validity. However, it has not been formally tested whether the extent to which sham controls resemble the treatment under investigation consistently affects trial outcomes, such as effect sizes, differential attrition, participant expectancy, and blinding effectiveness. Placebo- or sham-controlled RCTs of PPS interventions of clinical pain populations were searched in 12 databases.

Expectations: How and when do they contribute to placebo analgesia?

In placebo research, expectations are highlighted as one of the most influential subjective factors. While some studies have shown a relationship between expectations and pain relief, others have not. However, little is known about how methods of assessment of expectations may affect these conclusions.

[Non-pharmacological treatment for patients with chronic pain].

Around 20% of the adult population experience chronic pain. Non-pharmacological pain treatments have shown promising effects. Yet, contrary to pharmacological trials, there are no standardised methods for evaluating the effect of non-pharmacological treatments.