Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30723231›Full record

Trial reportScientific reports2019

Effects and Components of Placebos with a Psychological Treatment Rationale - Three Randomized-Controlled Studies.

Jens Gaab, Joe Kossowsky, Ulrike Ehlert, Cosima Locher

Registry-linked trialOpen access · goldAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Scientific reports, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04361968 (Combining Animal-assisted Intervention and Placebo-induced Analgesia), which is not on this map. Cited by 26 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
26citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
5.4field-weighted citation impact, top 3% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT04361968 nacompletednot on this mapstarted 2020, after this paper: background citation

Combining Animal-assisted Intervention and Placebo-induced Analgesia: The Dog as Treatment in a Randomized Controlled Trial

TypeinterventionalSponsorUniversity Hospital, Basel, SwitzerlandRan2020 to 2020Enrolled128ConditionsPain, Therapeutic Alliance, PlaceboArmsAnimal-assisted placebo condition, Placebo condition, Dog only condition, Control Condition
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

26 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 75 citations in OpenAlex.

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  15. The alliance in mental health care: conceptualization, evidence and clinical applications.World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) · 2023
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Jens GaabDivision of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Department of Psychology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland. jens.gaab@unibas.ch.
Joe KossowskyDivision of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Department of Psychology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
Ulrike EhlertDivision of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Institute of Psychology, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
Cosima LocherDivision of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Department of Psychology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
University of Basel · CHBoston Children's Hospital · USUniversity of Zurich · CH

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

In recent years, placebos have evolved from a mean to control for 'therapeutic chaff' to something that has clinically relevant effects with biological underpinning and that is considered to have clinical as well as scientific potential. However, the wealth of scientific placebo research is conceptualized in a biomedical context, i.e. based on placebos provided with a biomedical treatment rationale, whereas little is known about effects and mechanisms of placebos provided with a psychological treatment rationale. This has important repercussions not only on placebo research, but also on attempts to establish specificity of psychological interventions, such as psychotherapy. Therefore, we set out to assess the effects and possible components of placebos provided with a psychological treatment rationale in three experiments on healthy subjects. We show that placebos provided with a psychological treatment rationale are effective in short- as well as mid-term, but only when provided by a trustworthy, friendly and empathetic experimenter. These findings indicate that placebos are effective outside the medical context and thus need be controlled for in non-medical trials. Furthermore, it highlights and confirms the importance of a plausible psychological treatment rationale in the context of a therapeutic alliance for psychological interventions, such as psychotherapy.

Indexed as

Color PerceptionPlacebosAdolescentAdultColorFemaleFollow-Up StudiesHealthy VolunteersHumansMaleMiddle AgedPsychotherapyStudentsTreatment OutcomeYoung AdultPlacebos

Identifiers

PMID30723231
PMCPMC6363794
OpenAlexW2914565747

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.