Open-label placebo effects on psychological and physical well-being: A conceptual replication study

Publication type:
Journal article
Metadata:
Abstract
<sec xmlns="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/JATS1"> <title>Background</title> <p>Contrary to traditional placebos, open-label placebos (OLP) abstain from deception, i.e., participants are openly informed to receive an inert substance. Studies in clinical and healthy samples evidence the efficacy of OLPs. This study aims to conceptually replicate and expand findings of a recent OLP study in healthy participants while implementing a within-subject design and daily instead of retrospective assessments. Additionally, the effect of a brand name on the medicine container is tested and possible predictors of the OLP effects are explored.</p> </sec> <sec xmlns="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/JATS1"> <title>Method</title> <p>Healthy participants (N = 75) received OLP and no placebo for 5 days each (randomized sequence) and answered daily questionnaires on sleep quality, bodily symptoms, mental well-being, and psychological distress. The medicine container of half the participants had a brand name, the remaining did not. Different personality traits and situational factors were assessed.</p> </sec> <sec xmlns="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/JATS1"> <title>Results</title> <p>Mental and physical well-being did not differ between OLP and control phase, i.e., overall, no OLP effect emerged. Contrast analysis indicated that an OLP effect emerged for sleep quality and psychological distress when no brand name was present. Further, an OLP effect emerged in persons with higher expectations for bodily symptoms (r = .23, p = .046) and psychological distress (r = .24, p = .037).</p> </sec> <sec xmlns="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/JATS1"> <title>Conclusions</title> <p>Methodological differences to the original study are discussed as an explanation for the failure to induce overall OLP effects. Future studies should continue to replicate previous findings and determine the exact conditions of successful implementation of OLP effects in healthy as well as clinical samples.</p> </sec>
Autoren
  • Anne-Kathrin Bräscher
  • Ioanna-Evangelia Ferti
  • Michael Witthöft
DOI
10.32872/cpe.7679
eISSN
2625-3410
Ausgabe der Veröffentlichung
4
Zeitschrift
Clinical Psychology in Europe
Online publication date
2022
Status
Published online
Herausgeber
Leibniz Institute for Psychology (ZPID)
Herausgeber URL
http://dx.doi.org/10.32872/cpe.7679
Datum der Datenerfassung
2022
Titel
Open-label placebo effects on psychological and physical well-being: A conceptual replication study
Ausgabe der Zeitschrift
4

Data source: Crossref

Other metadata sources:
Abstract
<h4>Background</h4>Contrary to traditional placebos, open-label placebos (OLP) abstain from deception, i.e., participants are openly informed to receive an inert substance. Studies in clinical and healthy samples evidence the efficacy of OLPs. This study aims to conceptually replicate and expand findings of a recent OLP study in healthy participants while implementing a within-subject design and daily instead of retrospective assessments. Additionally, the effect of a brand name on the medicine container is tested and possible predictors of the OLP effects are explored.<h4>Method</h4>Healthy participants (N = 75) received OLP and no placebo for 5 days each (randomized sequence) and answered daily questionnaires on sleep quality, bodily symptoms, mental well-being, and psychological distress. The medicine container of half the participants had a brand name, the remaining did not. Different personality traits and situational factors were assessed.<h4>Results</h4>Mental and physical well-being did not differ between OLP and control phase, i.e., overall, no OLP effect emerged. Contrast analysis indicated that an OLP effect emerged for sleep quality and psychological distress when no brand name was present. Further, an OLP effect emerged in persons with higher expectations for bodily symptoms (r = .23, p = .046) and psychological distress (r = .24, p = .037).<h4>Conclusions</h4>Methodological differences to the original study are discussed as an explanation for the failure to induce overall OLP effects. Future studies should continue to replicate previous findings and determine the exact conditions of successful implementation of OLP effects in healthy as well as clinical samples.
Addresses
  • Department of Clinical Psychology, Psychotherapy, and Experimental Psychopathology, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
Autoren
  • Anne-Kathrin Bräscher
  • Ioanna-Evangelia Ferti
  • Michael Witthöft
DOI
10.32872/cpe.7679
eISSN
2625-3410
Externe Identifier
  • PubMed Identifier: 36762351
  • PubMed Central ID: PMC9881123
Open access
true
ISSN
2625-3410
Ausgabe der Veröffentlichung
4
Zeitschrift
Clinical psychology in Europe
Sprache
eng
Medium
Electronic-eCollection
Online publication date
2022
Open access status
Open Access
Paginierung
e7679
Datum der Veröffentlichung
2022
Status
Published
Publisher licence
CC BY
Datum der Datenerfassung
2023
Titel
Open-Label Placebo Effects on Psychological and Physical Well-Being: A Conceptual Replication Study.
Sub types
  • research-article
  • Journal Article
Ausgabe der Zeitschrift
4

Files

https://cpe.psychopen.eu/index.php/cpe/article/download/7679/7679.pdf https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC9881123?pdf=render

Data source: Europe PubMed Central

Abstract
BACKGROUND: Contrary to traditional placebos, open-label placebos (OLP) abstain from deception, i.e., participants are openly informed to receive an inert substance. Studies in clinical and healthy samples evidence the efficacy of OLPs. This study aims to conceptually replicate and expand findings of a recent OLP study in healthy participants while implementing a within-subject design and daily instead of retrospective assessments. Additionally, the effect of a brand name on the medicine container is tested and possible predictors of the OLP effects are explored. METHOD: Healthy participants (N = 75) received OLP and no placebo for 5 days each (randomized sequence) and answered daily questionnaires on sleep quality, bodily symptoms, mental well-being, and psychological distress. The medicine container of half the participants had a brand name, the remaining did not. Different personality traits and situational factors were assessed. RESULTS: Mental and physical well-being did not differ between OLP and control phase, i.e., overall, no OLP effect emerged. Contrast analysis indicated that an OLP effect emerged for sleep quality and psychological distress when no brand name was present. Further, an OLP effect emerged in persons with higher expectations for bodily symptoms (r = .23, p = .046) and psychological distress (r = .24, p = .037). CONCLUSIONS: Methodological differences to the original study are discussed as an explanation for the failure to induce overall OLP effects. Future studies should continue to replicate previous findings and determine the exact conditions of successful implementation of OLP effects in healthy as well as clinical samples.
Date of acceptance
2022
Autoren
  • Anne-Kathrin Bräscher
  • Ioanna-Evangelia Ferti
  • Michael Witthöft
Autoren-URL
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36762351
DOI
10.32872/cpe.7679
eISSN
2625-3410
Externe Identifier
  • PubMed Central ID: PMC9881123
Ausgabe der Veröffentlichung
4
Zeitschrift
Clin Psychol Eur
Schlüsselwörter
  • brand name
  • expectation
  • healthy sample
  • open-label placebo (OLP) effect
  • personality traits
Sprache
eng
Country
Germany
Paginierung
e7679
PII
cpe.7679
Datum der Veröffentlichung
2022
Status
Published online
Titel
Open-Label Placebo Effects on Psychological and Physical Well-Being: A Conceptual Replication Study.
Sub types
  • Journal Article
Ausgabe der Zeitschrift
4

Data source: PubMed

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