ArticleBrain sciences2021
Effects of Open-Label Placebos on State Anxiety and Glucocorticoid Stress Responses.
Article in Brain sciences, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of open-label placebos across populations and outcomes: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Scientific reports · 2025Pooled it
- Open-label placebos-a systematic review and meta-analysis of experimental studies with non-clinical samples.Scientific reports · 2023Pooled it
- Dispositional optimism and open-label placebo responses in hair cortisol concentrations and psychological distress-A randomized controlled trial.Applied psychology. Health and well-being · 2026Trial
- The role of expectations and tailored feedback on the open-label Placebo effect.Journal of health psychology · 2026Trial
- Open-label placebos reduce hair cortisol concentrations and psychological distress - a randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2026Trial
- Open-label placebos enhance test performance and reduce anxiety in learner drivers: a randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Effects of an open-label placebo intervention on reactions to social exclusion in healthy adults: a randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2023Trial
- Deceptive and open-label placebo effects in experimentally induced guilt: a randomized controlled trial in healthy subjects.Scientific reports · 2022Trial
- Open-label placebo effects on psychological distress and hair cortisol in a randomized controlled trial - the moderating role of the five-factor personality traits.Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2026Article
- Non-Deceptive Placebos Can Promote Acts of Kindness: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Neural underpinnings of open-label placebo effects in emotional distress.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2023Article
- Placebo mechanisms in aging: A randomized controlled trial comparing deceptive and open-label placebos on psychological, cognitive, and physical functioning in older adults.International journal of clinical and health psychology : IJCHPArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Stress belongs to the most frequent negative feelings people are confronted with in daily life. Strategies against acute stress include, e.g., relaxation techniques or medications, but it is also known that placebos can successfully reduce negative emotional stress. While it is widely held that placebos require deception to provoke a response, recent studies demonstrate intriguing evidence that placebos may work even without concealment (e.g., against anxiety or pain). Most of these studies are based on self-report questionnaires and do not include physiological measures. Here we report results of a study examining whether placebos without deception reduce acute stress. A total of 53 healthy individuals received either placebos without deception or no pills before participating in a laboratory stress test (Maastricht Acute Stress Test, MAST). We recorded self-report stress measures and cortisol responses before and after the MAST. Results showed no significant differences between the placebo and the control group, but when comparing participants with high relative to low beliefs in the power of placebos we found significant lower anxiety and cortisol responses for the placebo believers. These results show that non-deceptive placebos may successfully reduce acute anxiety and stress, but only in participants who had a strong belief in placebos. We discuss the results by suggesting that open-label placebos might be a possible treatment to reduce stress at least for some individuals.
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What OpenQuestion holds
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.