Items of Interest April 4, 2011 Issue

Study finds patients’ negative expectations reduce effectiveness of drugs

“Negative thinking can stop painkillers from working” © 2011 CTV.ca. February 19, 2011.

Call it the “negative placebo effect.” Patients who don’t believe their medicine will work may find they’re actually right. 

The placebo effect has been well documented. It’s the effect seen when patients given dummy sugar pills actually report relief from symptoms, purely because they thought the pills would work. 

But this study finds the opposite can be true too: Patients who make up their minds that a highly effective painkiller won’t relieve their pain will report that, in fact, it didn’t. 

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