Abstract

The placebo effect continues to fascinate scientists, scholars, and clinicians, resulting in an impressive amount of research, mainly in the field of pain. While recent experimental and clinical studies have unraveled salient aspects of the neurobiological substrates and clinical relevance of pain and placebo analgesia, an authoritative source remained lacking until now. By presenting and integrating a broad range of research, Placebo and Pain enhances readers’ knowledge about placebo and nocebo effects, reexamines the methodology of clinical trials, and improves the therapeutic approaches for patients suffering from pain.

Review for Placebo and Pain: “This ambitious book is the first comprehensive and unified presentation of the placebo and nocebo phenomena in the area of pain. Written by the international leading experts in the field, the book provides an accurate up-to-date [work] on placebo and pain dealing with current perspectives and future challenging issues.”--Ted Kaptchuk, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

• Contains historical aspects of the placebo effect 
• Discusses biological and psychological mechanisms of placebo analgesic responses
• Reviews implications of the placebo effect for clinical research and pain management
• Includes methodological and ethical aspects of the placebo effect

"…this book functions as a valuable source for developing knowledge and tools to improve educational and treatment approaches…What makes this book outstanding is its arrangement of concepts in an easy-to-read, interesting format. While other books may present similar topics and themes, this one is unprecedented because it is thorough, current, and clinically relevant and demonstrates the authority of its authors in an appealing manner."--Doody.com, March 21, 2014 "Colloca…and coeditors Flaten and Meissner present 27 chapters of research examining the placebo effect on pain and the key mechanistic advances and impact of these findings for clinical researchers and health practitioners. Neuroscience, psychology, pain, and other specialists from Europe, Australia, the US, and China describe the mechanisms underlying placebo-induced mediation and modulation of pain, including historical aspects, neurochemistry, animal models,…"--Reference & Research Book News, December 2013