Evidence Based Practice Flashcards

Flashcards on Placebo, Nocebo and Comparators

Placebo

An inert treatment that mimics the active one in all respects but has no physiological effects. Latin for 'shall I please?'

Placebo response/effect

Phenomenon where an otherwise worthless intervention in a study nevertheless induces an improvement in the patient’s condition or perception of the condition, perhaps due to the expectation of the participants in the study.

Placebo effect

Change in outcome that results from the treatment ritual.

Nocebo

Latin for ‘to harm’; describes a situation where a negative outcome occurs due to a belief that the intervention will cause harm.

Nocebo effect

The opposite of the placebo effect.

Nocebo

Adverse events or outcomes related to negative expectations or anticipations/beliefs.

Placebo

The ideal comparator to isolate the treatment effect; difficult to do with manual therapies.