The Nocebo Effect: When Words Make You Sick

An investigation of the nocebo effect--the placebo effect's evil twin.

"The nocebo effect" is a phenomenon best summarized as the occurrence of a harmful event that stems from consciously or subconsciously anticipating it. The most recent and massive demonstration of the nocebo effect was found with the claims of COVID vaccine side effects, where a significant portion of these side effects were not actually caused by the vaccine. Instead, they were the result of our negative expectations, the so-called nocebo effect.

There are myriad other examples throughout history, and recent studies have documented the critical role of the nocebo effect in treatment side effects--such as with statins for high cholesterol, the higher incidence of complaints after negative media reports of certain medicines, and the mysterious illnesses associated with the Havana Syndrome, during which dozens of US government employees fell ill after reportedly being exposed to an unidentified sound wave.

We are just discovering the power behind this effect, as explored in the groundbreaking work of a dozen top level researchers. Most importantly, researchers have investigated strategies that can be adopted by both clinicians and patients to reduce the nocebo effect.

In turns enlightening and informative, The Nocebo Effect is the first book to investigate this fascinating phenomenon, and offers a wide variety of topics and angles, by the foremost researchers in this emerging field.

12.7 billion doses of the COVID vaccine have been administered around the world, with nearly 613 million doses in the United States alone. Unfortunately, the vaccine has not been universally accepted, often as a result of the side-effects of the vaccine that were widely discussed in news outlets and amplified by social media, relaying anecdotes of people feeling sick after getting jabbed. But lost in this discussion of side effects, and ignored by the CDC, vaccine experts and the media, is the inconvenient fact that a significant portion of these side effects were not actually caused by the vaccine. Instead, they were the result of our negative expectations, the so-called nocebo effect.

"The nocebo effect" stems from the Latin word nocere, which translates roughly as "to harm" and can be best summarized as the occurrence of a harmful event that stems from consciously or subconsciously anticipating or expecting it. We are just discovering the power behind this phenomenon, as explored in the groundbreaking research of a dozen top level researchers.

While there has never before been such a massive demonstration of the nocebo effect as with the COVID vaccine, there are myriad other examples throughout history, and recent studies have documented the critical role of the nocebo effect in treatment side effects--such as with statins for high cholesterol--and the psychological and social processes that produce these effects, such as the higher incidence of complaints after negative media reports of certain medicines, all the way to the illnesses associated with the Havana Syndrome, during which dozens of US government employees fell ill after reportedly being exposed to an unidentified sound wave, and the recent media coverage of bed bug infestations in Paris. Most importantly, researchers have investigated strategies that can be adopted by both clinicians and patients to reduce the nocebo effect.
In turns enlightening and informative, The Nocebo Effect is the first book to investigate this fascinating phenomenon, and offers a wide variety of topics and angles, by the foremost researchers in this emerging field.


Author: Michael Bernstein, Charlotte Blease, Cosima Locher
Publisher: Mayo Clinic Press
Published: 03/19/2024
Pages: 256
Binding Type: Hardcover
ISBN: 9798887700243

About the Author
Michael Bernstein, Ph.D., is an experimental psychologist and an Assistant Professor in the School of Public Health at Brown University. His work is focused on harnessing the placebo effect to reduce opioid use among pain patients. He has received funding from government and non-governmental agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, where he is currently an early career investigator.

Charlotte Blease, Ph.D., is a philosopher of medicine currently based at Harvard Medical School and a co-founder of the Society for Interdisciplinary Placebo Studies. She is a former Fulbright Scholar and a winner in 2012 of the UK-wide BBC Radio 3's New Generation Thinkers Competition. Dr. Blease has written extensively about the ethics of placebo and nocebo effects. Her research has been profiled by international news outlets including The Washington Post, The Guardian, and The Sydney Morning Herald.

Cosima Locher, Ph.D., is a psychologist who is dedicated to studying honest (e.g., "open-label") placebos. She is published in leading peer-reviewed journals, such as PAIN, the American Journal of Psychiatry, JAMA Psychiatry, and JAMA Pediatrics. Dr. Locher is a co-founder of The Pain Net, an international network of researchers interested in Chronic Primary Pain, including with a special focus on the placebo effect.

Walter Brown, M.D., is a Clinical Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. He has studied the placebo effect for the past 40 years, is the author of three books including The Placebo Effect in Clinical Practice.