Merely possessing a placebo analgesic with high (vs. low) perceived self-connection enhances self-resilience.

Research output: Other Conference ContributionsPoster

Abstract

Previous study found merely possessing a placebo analgesic cream has similar pain outcomes with using a placebo analgesic cream, but the underlying mechanism is unclear (Yeung et al., 2020). We demonstrated a possession based placebo effect existed and observed how self-object association affects pain outcome. The 126 healthy adults were randomly assigned to either the experimental (EXP) conditions (EXP1: possessed a placebo analgesic cream with high self-object connection; EXP2: possessed a placebo analgesic cream with low self-object connection) or control (CO) conditions (CO1: possessed a pain-irrelevant cream; CO2: no-possession). In EXP1, participants received a placebo analgesic cream which was labelled their own name and they were asked to write about the importance of this cream to them. In EXP2, participants received a placebo analgesic cream which was labelled the other participant’s name, and they were required to write how the given analgesic cream is useless to them. All participants completed a cold pressor test. Participants in EXP1 showed significantly better pain outcomes (longer pain tolerance and higher pain threshold) than the other three conditions.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - 11 May 2023
EventThe 4th International Conference of the Society for Interdisciplinary Placebo Studies - Duisburg, Germany
Duration: 10 May 202313 May 2023

Conference

ConferenceThe 4th International Conference of the Society for Interdisciplinary Placebo Studies
Abbreviated titleSIPS 2023
Country/TerritoryGermany
CityDuisburg
Period10/05/2313/05/23

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