The Nocebo Effect: When Words Make You Sick -- Michael Bernstein, Hardcover

An investigation of the nocebo effect--the placebo effect's evil twin.

"The nocebo effect" is a phenomenon best summarized as the occurrence of a harmful event that stems from consciously or subconsciously anticipating it. There are myriad examples throughout history, and recent studies have documented the critical role of the nocebo effect in treatment side effects--such as with statins for high cholesterol, the higher incidence of complaints after negative media reports of certain medicines, and the mysterious illnesses associated with the Havana Syndrome, during which dozens of US government employees fell ill after reportedly being exposed to an unidentified sound wave.

We are just discovering the power behind this effect, as explored in the groundbreaking work of a dozen top level researchers. Most importantly, researchers have investigated strategies that can be adopted by both clinicians and patients to reduce the nocebo effect.

In turns enlightening and informative, The Nocebo Effect is the first book to investigate this fascinating phenomenon, and offers a wide variety of topics and angles, by the foremost researchers in this emerging field.

Author: Michael Bernstein, Charlotte Blease, Cosima Locher
Publisher: Mayo Clinic Press
Published: 03/19/2024
Pages: 256
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.90lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.80w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9798887700243

About the Author
Michael H. Bernstein, Ph.D., is an experimental psychologist and an Assistant Professor in The Department of Diagnostic Imaging at Brown University's Warren Alpert Medical School. His work is focused on harnessing the placebo effect to reduce opioid use among pain patients. He is Director of the Medical Expectations Lab at Brown.

Charlotte Blease, Ph.D., is a philosopher and interdisciplinary health researcher at Digital Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, and Department of Women's and Children's Health, Uppsala University, Sweden. She is a former Fulbright Scholar and a winner in 2012 of the UK-wide BBC Radio 3's New Generation Thinkers Competition. Dr. Blease has written extensively about the ethics of placebo and nocebo effects. Her research has been profiled by international news outlets including The Washington Post, The Guardian, and The Sydney Morning Herald.

Cosima Locher, Ph.D., is a psychologist and researcher at the Department of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Switzerland. She is dedicated to studying honest (e.g., "open-label") placebos. She is published in leading peer-reviewed journals, such as PAIN, the American Journal of Psychiatry, JAMA Psychiatry, and JAMA Pediatrics. Dr. Locher is a co-founder of The Pain Net, an international network of researchers interested in Chronic Primary Pain, including with a special focus on the placebo effect

Walter A. Brown, M.D., is a Clinical Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. He has studied the placebo effect for the past 40 years, and is the author of three books, including The Placebo Effect in Clinical Practice.