Neuroscience
The August 3 episode of ScienceFriday featured an interview with Columbia psychology professor Tor Wager about his research on the placebo effect. Wager and his team use fMRIs and PET scans to study how the use of "special creams" affects pain (high heat placed on skin). They first established where this kind of pain shows up in fMRIs. Then, in Wager's words, "... we put a cream on [subjects'] skin and we say this is lidocaine. It's an effective - it's a known pain reliever. We want to see how it works in your brain. So then we give them the same stimulus, the same hot, you know, hot plate on their arm, instead of a level eight, maybe it's a level six."
And later: "We find that some of the pain responsive regions of the brain actually showed decreases in activity when you have the placebo."
Finally, Wager states: "I think one of the sort of important and interesting take-home message is is that medical science has really, so far, ignored, to a large degree, people's beliefs and expectations, and pharmacology ignores it. But, in fact, because beliefs cause chemicals to be released in your brain, those chemicals actually can combine with drugs and do things that just the drugs themselves won't do."
For More Info
* ScienceFriday, August 3, hour two. Interview with Tor Wager, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Columbia University. Transcript avaialable in LexisNexis. ScienceFriday also links to lots of other interesting stuff on the placebo effect, including an article from a 2004 issue of Scientific American: Scientists See How Placebo Effect Eases Pain and a 2007 episode of NYC's Radio Lab called simply Placebo
* Wager, Tor and team. Cognitive and Affective Control Laboratory @ Columbia University.
*Benedetti, F., Mayberg, H. S., Wager, T. D., Stohler, C. S., & Zubieta, J. -. (2005). "Neurobiological mechanisms of the placebo effect." Journal of Neuroscience, 25 (45), 10390-10402.
* Wager, T. D. (2005). "The neural bases of placebo effects in pain." Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14 (4), 175-179.
* Wager, T. D., Rilling, J. K., Smith, E. E., Sokolik, A., Casey, K. L., & Davidson, R. J. et al. (2004). "Placebo-induced changes in fMRI in the anticipation and experience of pain." Science, 303(5661), 1162-1167.
(citations retrieved from Scopus)
- Does It Matter Whether Or Not Pain Medication Is Branded?
Around the world many health services are moving towards generic (non-branded) medicines as a way to reduce costs. Where does psychology come into this? Well, we know that, thanks to the placebo effect, people's expectations about a treatment can...
- Resilient, Friendly People Are More Responsive To Placebo Treatment
The placebo effect is a wonderful thing. Inert treatments provoke real medical benefits simply by virtue of the patient expecting the intervention to help. But of course, a lot of times placebos don't work, and some people seem to be more responsive...
- Verbal Reassurance Can Dull The Effect Of Pain, But Only If It's From Someone We Identify With
The physical effect of pain can be alleviated by verbal reassurance from another person but only if they are someone we identify with. The new finding by Michael Platow and colleagues at the Australian National University demonstrates the significant...
- Acetaminophen Probably Isn't An "empathy Killer"
Left: Belgian physician Dr. Wim Distelmans, a cancer specialist, professor in palliative care and the president of the Belgian federal euthanasia commission. Right: Generic acetaminophen. What (or who) is an “Empathy Killer“? An Angel of Death Kevorkian-type...
- Cymbalta And Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced its approval of this medication as a treatment for a common neurological complication of diabetes. From the press release: FDA Approves Drug for Neuropathic Pain Associated With Diabetes Today...
Neuroscience
Studying the Placebo Effect
The August 3 episode of ScienceFriday featured an interview with Columbia psychology professor Tor Wager about his research on the placebo effect. Wager and his team use fMRIs and PET scans to study how the use of "special creams" affects pain (high heat placed on skin). They first established where this kind of pain shows up in fMRIs. Then, in Wager's words, "... we put a cream on [subjects'] skin and we say this is lidocaine. It's an effective - it's a known pain reliever. We want to see how it works in your brain. So then we give them the same stimulus, the same hot, you know, hot plate on their arm, instead of a level eight, maybe it's a level six."
And later: "We find that some of the pain responsive regions of the brain actually showed decreases in activity when you have the placebo."
Finally, Wager states: "I think one of the sort of important and interesting take-home message is is that medical science has really, so far, ignored, to a large degree, people's beliefs and expectations, and pharmacology ignores it. But, in fact, because beliefs cause chemicals to be released in your brain, those chemicals actually can combine with drugs and do things that just the drugs themselves won't do."
For More Info
* ScienceFriday, August 3, hour two. Interview with Tor Wager, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Columbia University. Transcript avaialable in LexisNexis. ScienceFriday also links to lots of other interesting stuff on the placebo effect, including an article from a 2004 issue of Scientific American: Scientists See How Placebo Effect Eases Pain and a 2007 episode of NYC's Radio Lab called simply Placebo
* Wager, Tor and team. Cognitive and Affective Control Laboratory @ Columbia University.
*Benedetti, F., Mayberg, H. S., Wager, T. D., Stohler, C. S., & Zubieta, J. -. (2005). "Neurobiological mechanisms of the placebo effect." Journal of Neuroscience, 25 (45), 10390-10402.
* Wager, T. D. (2005). "The neural bases of placebo effects in pain." Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14 (4), 175-179.
* Wager, T. D., Rilling, J. K., Smith, E. E., Sokolik, A., Casey, K. L., & Davidson, R. J. et al. (2004). "Placebo-induced changes in fMRI in the anticipation and experience of pain." Science, 303(5661), 1162-1167.
(citations retrieved from Scopus)
- Does It Matter Whether Or Not Pain Medication Is Branded?
Around the world many health services are moving towards generic (non-branded) medicines as a way to reduce costs. Where does psychology come into this? Well, we know that, thanks to the placebo effect, people's expectations about a treatment can...
- Resilient, Friendly People Are More Responsive To Placebo Treatment
The placebo effect is a wonderful thing. Inert treatments provoke real medical benefits simply by virtue of the patient expecting the intervention to help. But of course, a lot of times placebos don't work, and some people seem to be more responsive...
- Verbal Reassurance Can Dull The Effect Of Pain, But Only If It's From Someone We Identify With
The physical effect of pain can be alleviated by verbal reassurance from another person but only if they are someone we identify with. The new finding by Michael Platow and colleagues at the Australian National University demonstrates the significant...
- Acetaminophen Probably Isn't An "empathy Killer"
Left: Belgian physician Dr. Wim Distelmans, a cancer specialist, professor in palliative care and the president of the Belgian federal euthanasia commission. Right: Generic acetaminophen. What (or who) is an “Empathy Killer“? An Angel of Death Kevorkian-type...
- Cymbalta And Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced its approval of this medication as a treatment for a common neurological complication of diabetes. From the press release: FDA Approves Drug for Neuropathic Pain Associated With Diabetes Today...