Studies on humans are revealing the neural mechanisms of placebo effects. Some of the best research is in the area of pain research. People can be conditioned to expect analgesia in certain situations. When those conditions are provided to the patient, the brain responds by generating a pattern of neural activity that produces objectively quantifiable analgesia.
Evans (2004) argues that the placebo effect works through a suppression of the acute phase response. and as a result does not work in medical conditions that do not feature this. The acute phase response consists of inflammation and sickness behaviour:
- Four classic signs of ‘inflammation’: tumor, rubor, calor and dolor – swelling, redness, heat and pain. Sickness behaviour: lethargy, apathy, loss of appetite and increased sensitivity to pain.
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