Professional Documents
Culture Documents
REVIEW
The Nocebo Phenomenon: Concept, Evidence, and Implications for
Public Health
Robert A. Hahn, Ph.D., M.P.H.1
Division of Prevention Research and Analytic Methods, Epidemiology Program Office, Mailstop D-01, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia 30333
0091-7435/97
608 ROBERT A. HAHN
other two a bronchoconstrictor; half of the group given dent of other risk factors; that symptoms may spread
each substance was told they were being given a bron- in communities by being witnessed; and that symp-
chodilator, the other half that they were being given a toms may be caused by experimentally induced expec-
bronchoconstrictor. For each substance administered, tations. Further investigations should explore the
expectations induced by misinformation about the sub- ways in which, like the placebo phenomenon, the ex-
stance reduced its physiologic effectiveness by 43% (for pectations of the nocebo phenomenon translate diverse
the bronchoconstrictor) and 49% (for the bronchodila- cultural beliefs into physiological process.
tor). I conclude with two implications of the nocebo phe-
Another study was designed to evaluate a method for nomenon for public health.
the diagnosis of psychogenic seizures, reported to ac- First, the nocebo phenomenon is a side effect of hu-
count for as much as 20% of refractory epilepsy [20]. man culture. A societys culture tells its members how
Lancman and colleagues compared the effect of sugges- the world is divided, interconnected, and known; it
tion on the induction of seizure behavior in patients specifies what is valued and what is not, what is good,
with psychogenic seizures and others with known epi- beautiful, right, wrong, and indifferent; it provides
lepsy. Patients were told that a medicine administered rules of conduct whereby the societys members know
through a skin patch would induce seizures within 30 how to behave and how to judge the behavior of others
sec, and that removal of the patch would end the sei- [14]. One element of cultures has been referred to as an
zure. Of patients with psychogenic seizures, 77% mani- ethnomedicine. A societys ethnomedicine tells soci-
fested seizures when the patch was applied, with etal members what sicknesses there are, how they are
symptoms such as nonresponsiveness, generalized vio- acquired, how manifested, how treated. The nocebo
lent thrashing, and uncoordinated movements; 19% of phenomenon suggests that the categories of an ethno-
these patients reported auras, and 44% showed postic- medicine may not only describe conditions of sickness,
tal confusion and/or sleepiness. None of the patients but may also foster those conditions by establishing
with diagnosed epilepsy manifested seizures. expectations that they may occur. Thus, a cultural sys-
Finally, another study [16], designed to evaluate a tem commonly thought to serve a healing function may
controversial method of food allergy testing, compared also have a contrary outcome, fostering the same pa-
the effect of injecting the food substancesthe test to thologies intended to be healed. The assessment of the
be evaluatedwith the effect of injecting saline diluent extent of this noxious facet of ethnomedicines, includ-
without the substance in question on symptoms that ing our own system of biomedicine, is an important
included itching of the nose, watering or burning eyes, public health challenge.
plugged ears, tight or scratchy throat, nausea, dizzi- Second, and more immediately practical, if commu-
ness, sleepiness, and depression. (Patients with a his- nication about pathological conditions may serve not
tory of anaphylactic reactions or documented cardiac only to describe, but, in a sense, also to foster sickness
irregularity or other severe reactions to their allergies by creating expectations, then we must be cautious in
were excluded.) In this double-blind study, the propor- both public health communications and in clinical
tion of patients who experienced symptoms was not medicine. We need to know more about how health
statistically different in patients given test (27%) and messages affect their audience. Such knowledge may
nocebo diluent injections (24%). Neutralizing injec- enhance our ability to minimize the pathological con-
tions, given to eliminate the reactions, were also sequences of negative messages. The placebo/nocebo
equally effective whether they contained the food sub- phenomenon suggests that it may be healthier to err on
stance orin this casethe diluent placebo. An injec- the side of optimism than on the side of pessimism.
tion becomes a nocebo (or placebo) not because of its
contents, but because of the pessimistic (or optimistic) REFERENCES
expectations of its consumer. 1. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical
manual of mental disorders, 3rd ed. Washington: Am. Psychiatr.
DISCUSSION Assoc., 1980.
2. Anda R, Williamson D, Jones D, Macera C, Eaker E, Glassman
I have reviewed a range of studies indicating that A, Marks J. Depressed affect, hopelessness, and the risk of isch-
socially given negative expectations and their emo- emic heart disease in a cohort of U.S. adults. Epidemiology
1993;4(4):28594.
tional associations facilitate their own realization. Be-
liefs can make us sick as well as healthy. The nocebo 3. Arcidiacono S, Brand JI, Coppenger W, Calder RA. Mass socio-
genic illness in a day-care centerFlorida. MMWR 1990;31(18):
phenomenon is a little-recognized facet of culture that 3014.
may be responsible for a substantial variety of pathol- 4. Black DW, Warrack G, Winokur G. Excess mortality among psy-
ogy throughout the world. However, the extent of the chiatric patients. JAMA 1985;253(1):5861.
phenomenon is not yet known, and evidence is piece- 5. Black DW, Warrack G, Winokur G. The Iowa record-linkage
meal and ambiguous. There is evidence that inner, study. II. Excess mortality among patients with functional dis-
mental states affect pathological outcomes, indepen- orders. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1985;42:828.
NOCEBO: CONCEPT, EVIDENCE, AND IMPLICATIONS 611
6. Bruce ML, Leaf PJ, Rozal GPM, et al. Psychiatric status and 9 23. Modan B, Tirosh M, Weissenberg E, et al. The Arjenyattah epi-
year mortality data in the New Haven epidemiologic catchment demic: a mass phenomenon: spread and triggering factors. Lan-
area study. Am J Psychiatry 1994;151(5):71621. cet 1983;24/31:14724.
7. Cannon WB. Voodoo death. Am Anthropol 1942;44(2):16981. 24. Newman SC, Bland RC. Mortality in a cohort of patients with
8. Colligan MJ, Murphy LR. Mass psychogenic illness in organiza- schizophrenia: a record linkage study. Can J Psychiatry 1991;
tions: an overview. J Occup Psychol 1979;52:7790. 36:23945.
9. Colligan MJ, Stockton W. The mystery of assembly-line hysteria. 25. Phillips DP. The influence of suggestion on suicide: substantive
Psychol Today 1976;12:93116. and theoretical implications of the Werther effect. Am Soc Rev
10. Conti S, Savron G, Bartolucci G, et al. Cardiac neurosis and 1974;39:34054.
psychopathology. Psychother Psychosom 1989;52:8891. 26. Phillips DP. Motor vehicle fatalities increase just after publi-
11. Dupuy HJ. A concurrent validational study of the NCHS Gen- cized suicide stories. Science 1977;196:14645.
eral Well-Being Schedule. Washington: U.S. Govt Printing Of- 27. Phillips DP, Carstensen LL. Clustering of teenage suicides after
fice, 1977; Vital and Health Statistics, Ser. 2, No. 73, DHEW television news stories about suicide. N Engl J Med 1986;315:
Publication No. (HRA)78-1347. 6859.
12. Eaker E, Pinsky J, Castelli WP. Myocardial infarction and coro- 28. Reich P. Psychological predisposition to life-threatening ar-
nary death among women: psychosocial predictors from a 20- rhythmias. Annu Rev Med 1985;36:397405.
year follow-up of women in the Framingham Study. Am J Epi-
29. Rosenzweig P, Brohier S, Zipfel A. The placebo effect in healthy
demiol 1992;135:85464.
volunteers: influence of experimental conditions on the adverse
13. Friedman HS, Booth-Kewley S. The disease-prone personality: events profile during phase I studies. Clin Pharmacol Ther
a meta-analytic view of the construct. Am Psychol 1987;42(6): 1993;54(5):57883.
53955.
30. Schachter S, Singer JE. Cognitive, social, and physiological de-
14. Hahn RA. Sickness and healing: an anthropological perspective. terminants of emotional state. Psychol Rev 1962;69(5):37999.
New Haven (CT): Yale Univ. Press, 1995.
31. Schweiger A, Parducci A. Nocebo: the psychologic induction of
15. Harris HW, McClement JH. Pulmonary tuberculosis. In
pain. Pavlov J Biol Sci 1981;16:1403.
Hoeprich PD, editor. Infectious diseases. New York: Harper &
Row, 1983:378404. 32. Sirois F. Epidemic hysteria. Acta Psychiatr Scand 1974;51(252):
744.
16. Jewett DL, Fein G, Greenberg MH. A double-blind study of
symptom provocation to determine food sensitivity. N Engl J 33. Sirois F. A propos de la frequence des epidemies d9hysterie.
Med 1990;323(7):42933. Union Med Can 1975;104:1213.
17. Kennedy WP. The nocebo reaction. Med World 1961;91:2035. 34. Sternbach RA. The effects of instructional sets on autonomic
18. Kerckhoff AC, Back KW. The June Bug: a study of hysterical responsivity. Psychophysiology 1964;1(1):6772.
contagion. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1968. 35. Weisman AD, Hackett TP. Predilection to death: death and dy-
19. Kissel P, Barrucand D. Placebos et effet placebo en medecine. ing as a psychiatric problem. Psychosom Med 1961;23(3):232
Paris: Masson, 1964. 56.
20. Lancman ME, Asconape JJ, Craven WJ, Howard G, Penry JK. 36. Weissman MM, Markowitz JS, Ouellette R, Greenwald S, Kahn
Predictive value of induction of psychogenic seizures by sugges- JP. Panic disorder and cardiovascular/cerebrovascular prob-
tion. Ann Neurol 1994;35(3):35961. lems: results from a community survey. Am J Psychiatry 1990;
21. Luparello TJ, Leist N, Lourie CH, Sweet P. The interaction of 147:15048.
psychologic stimuli and pharmacologic agents on airway reac- 37. Wells KB, Stewart A, Hays RD, et al. The functioning and well-
tivity in asthmatic subjects. Psychosom Med 1970;32(5):50913. being of depressed patients. JAMA 1989;262(7):9149.
22. Luparello T, Lyons HA, Bleecker ER, McFadden ER. Influences 38. United States Surgeon General. Reducing the health conse-
of suggestion on airway reactivity in asthmatic subjects. Psycho- quence of smoking. 25 years of progress. Rockville, MD: U.S.
som Med 1968;30:81925. Public Health Service, 1989.