Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42564194›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland)2026

Exploring magical thinking in the context of pain.

Birgit Heckemann, Lionel Snell, Mark I Johnson

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland), 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

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

3 authors.

Birgit HeckemannDepartment of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Sahlgrenska University Hospital/Östra, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Lionel SnellIndependent Book Author and Practitioner, Cape Town, South Africa.
Mark I JohnsonCentre for Pain Research, School of Health, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, United Kingdom.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

This perspectives article explores magical thinking (which is often dismissed as irrational or pathologized) as a potentially valuable personal orientation and resource for people living with chronic pain: as a way to make more sense of their complex and challenging life experience, psychologically as well as socially.

Indexed as

chronic paincoping strategiesillness narrativemagical thinkingmeaning-makingmind body connectionpatient experiencesubjective experience of pain

Identifiers

PMID42564194
PMCPMC13442387

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.