3rd International Conference of the Society for Interdisciplinary Placebo Studies (SIPS): Harnessing Placebo Mechanisms for Optimal Pain Management and Treatment of Alcohol and Other Drug Use Disorders

The Society for Interdisciplinary Placebo Studies (SIPS) held its 3rd international conference virtually at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, USA (UMB) from 26-28th May, 2021 (https://sips-conference.com/home). SIPS was created in 2014, with the mission of promoting interdisciplinary investigation of placebo and nocebo phenomena (https://placebosociety.org/). The 2021 conference was specifically designed to advance placebo research and application of mind-body mechanisms in the management of alcohol/substance use and pain disorders. Pain and alcohol/substance use disorders are inter-related conditions with large and individually variable placebo effects on disease progression and response to treatments. In double blind clinical trials for pain and alcohol use disorders, the responses to placebos can be as large as the active treatments leading to a stagnant era for the development of new drugs because they do not exceed placebos. The conference provided a collaborative platform to over 480 scientists worldwide including trainees, junior faculty, and clinicians to (1) present and share innovative research findings and theoretical ideas on placebo research; (2) obtain training and education, and (3) network amongst researchers and attendees mitigating the challenges of virtual environments. The presentations encompassed basic, translational, and clinical research delivered in 8 plenary sessions, 21 workshops, three spotlight sessions on timely topics such as impact of COVID19 on research, poster and short oral presentations.