Optimizing the Therapeutic Potential in Clinical Settings: Leveraging Placebos and Mitigating Nocebo Effects

The placebo effect holds a crucial yet often overlooked role in clinical care, representing intrinsic and potentially powerful components of any therapeutic intervention. Decades of predominantly experimental work on the placebo phenomenon have yielded valuable insights into the psychosocial and neurobiological mechanisms that underpin this powerful therapeutic tool. Despite remarkable progress in the field, the clinical translation remains a challenge. This may be due to the lack of a defining model guiding the implementation of these complementary processes in clinical practice but also due to the need for more clinical-oriented work. Notably, the nocebo effect, a counterpart of the placebo response, introduces additional complexities. Effective and ethical harnessing of both placebo and nocebo responses can significantly boost good clinical care. This Research Topic seeks contributions that explore and advance placebo and nocebo-related approaches to maximize patient outcomes.

The disparity between the accumulated evidence highlighting the therapeutic potential of placebo responses and their limited integration into clinical settings underscores the need for innovative research and strategic interventions. This Research Topic seeks to inspire scholarly contributions that address the disparity by proposing solutions or mechanisms facilitating the translation of placebo and nocebo research into clinically meaningful practices. Identifying barriers hindering the seamless integration of placebo and nocebo research, proposing advanced methods to effectively harness these effects in patient care, and exploring the ethical considerations associated with implementing placebo and nocebo-related interventions are paramount objectives. We encourage submissions of empirical or theoretical work delving into the underlying mechanisms of placebos and nocebos and consider distinct strategies, such as open-hidden paradigms, expectation manipulation, placebo-controlled dose reduction, open-label placebos, and mindset alterations. The goal is to bridge the gap between placebo and nocebo research and their meaningful application in clinical contexts, fostering advancements in patient care and treatment outcomes.

We welcome a variety of contributions, encompassing empirical studies, theoretical frameworks, and critical reviews that significantly add to the advancement of placebo and nocebo research in clinical settings. Authors are invited to explore diverse themes such as the identification of barriers hindering placebo integration, the proposal of advanced methodologies to effectively harnessing these beneficial effects, the investigation of the underlying mechanisms of clinically relevant placebo and nocebo responses, and the examination of ethical considerations associated with the implementation of placebo interventions. Collaborate with us in shaping the trajectory of placebo and nocebo research and its application to improve patient outcomes.

Keywords: Placebo effect, nocebo effect, clinical translation, expectations, psychosocial factors, contextual factors, patients’ mindsets, open-label placebo, ethics

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.