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Reconsidering the placebo response from a broad anthropological perspective
Jennifer Jo Thompson1, Cheryl Ritenbaugh, Mark Nichter
1Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0030, USA.
Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry
|December 25, 2008
Summary
The placebo effect, often controlled in research, is a complex healing response. Direct embodied experiences, not just conscious thoughts, may drive this adaptive trait across all biological and social levels.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Sociology
Background:
- The placebo effect is a recognized phenomenon in healing.
- Current understanding often focuses on cognitive aspects and controlling for it in research.
- Its role in clinical practice and public perception warrants deeper investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the full range of human experience that can trigger a placebo response.
- To re-evaluate theoretical frameworks, emphasizing embodied experience over conscious cognition.
- To investigate the neurobiology of embodied healing and its adaptive significance.
Main Methods:
- Review of theoretical frameworks (conditioning, expectancy, therapeutic relationship, sociocultural meaning).
- Analysis of discourse surrounding placebo in research, practice, media, and lay interpretations.
- Examination of the neurobiology of visualization/rehearsal for wellness outcomes.
Main Results:
- Direct embodied experience may be more influential than meaning-making in healing.
- Visualization and rehearsal can directly produce outcomes often labeled as placebo responses.
- The placebo response appears to be an evolutionarily adaptive trait.
Conclusions:
- Placebo responses are multifaceted, involving embodied experiences.
- Healing involves mechanisms operating at genetic, cellular, social, and cultural levels.
- Understanding placebo requires integrating cognitive, embodied, and sociocultural perspectives.
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