Placebo and Nocebo EXPLAINED

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Can beliefs make you sick?

Consider "The June Bug" incident from a US textile factory in the early 1960s. Many employees began to feel dizzy, had an upset stomach, and vomited. Some were even hospitalized. The illness was attributed to a mysterious bug biting workers. However, when the CDC investigated this outbreak, no bugs or any other cause of the illnesses could be identified. Instead, it appears to be an illness caused by the mind—that is, sickness due to expectation. The June Bug story is one of many striking examples of the nocebo effect, a phenomenon best summarized as the occurrence of a harmful event that stems from expecting it.

Today on the show, we explore the power of expectation and how it influences outcomes in medicine, psychotherapy, and everyday life.

Shermer and Bernstein discuss the role of expectations in addiction, research on using the placebo effect to reduce opioid use among pain patients, and the placebo effect in alcohol consumption. They also touch on the placebo and nocebo effects in acupuncture, meditation, and statin medication, while exploring the ethics of using placebos in medical practice.

Plus, the history of placebos, including Henry Beecher's work during World War II, and the conditions in which placebos are most effective.

Michael Bernstein is an experimental psychologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Diagnostic Imaging at Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School. He directs the Medical Expectations Lab at Brown. His latest book, The Nocebo Effect: When Words Make You Sick, is co-authored with Charlotte Blease, Cosima Locher, and Walter Brown.