Beyond its focus on placebo mechanisms, the book examines their role in alleviating symptoms of neuropathic pain, peripheral neuropathies, fatigue, and neuropsychiatric disorders like depression and anxiety. It also presents a methodological lens on how placebos are used to validate treatments in trials while debating their ethical implications. By weaving together science, ethics, and practical insights, Placebo Effects in Neurology stands out as a compelling resource for clinicians, researchers, and anyone interested in the nuanced intersection of psychology and neurology.
Table of Contents
Section I. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS1. A brief history of placebo
2. Placebo effects and emotion regulation: Conceptual and neural similarities and differences
3. Understanding the psychology of the nocebo effect
4. Open-label nondeceptive placebos
5. Social aspects
6. Age and gender
7. Conditioned Immune Responses and the neural-immune connection in animals and humans
8. The Role of Mindsets in Placebo Effects and Healthcare
9. The Placebome
Section II. SPECIFIC NEUROLOGIC CONDITIONS
10. Pain
11. The motor system and motor disorders
12. Peripheral neuropathies
13. Placebo and Nocebo Effects in Headaches
14. Placebo Effects in Mental Disorders
15. Miscellaneous neurological conditions with a few or no available data
16. Hypoxia
17. The Placebo Effect in Psychotherapy
18. Interventional procedures and physical therapies
19. The COVID-19 Pandemic: A Special Case of Placebo and Nocebo Effects
Section III. METHODOLOGICAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES
20. Minimizing placebo effects in clinical trials
21. Ethical considerations with using placebo treatments and effects in clinical practice
22. Placebo and the doctor-patient interaction and communication
Authors
Fabrizio Benedetti Professor of Neurophysiology, University of Turin Medical School, Turin, Italy Professor Emeritus of Medicine, Zermatt, Switzerland.Prof. Fabrizio Benedetti, MD is Professor of Neurophysiology and Human Physiology at the University of Turin Medical School, Italy, and Director of Medicine and Physiology of Hypoxia at Plateau Ros�, Switzerland. He identified the basic mechanisms of placebo and nocebo effects across a number of medical conditions and therapeutic interventions, including pain, Parkinson's disease, the endocrine system and oxygen-dependent critical life functions. He has been a consultant and advisor at NIH, NIMH, NIDA, NCCAM and at Harvard University since 2000. He is recipient of the 2009 Medical Book Award of the BMA, the 2012 Seymour Solomon Award of the American Headache Society, and the 2015 William S Kroger Award of Behavioral Medicine from the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis. In 2023 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Society for Interdisciplinary Placebo Studies. He is currently on the editorial boards for Current Neuropharmacology and Canadian Jrnl of Pain.
Aziz Shaibani Clinical Professor of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Director, Nerve and Muscle Center of Texas, Adjunct Professor of Neurology, KUMC, USA.Prof. Aziz Shaibani, MD is clinical Professor of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and the director of the Nerve and Muscle Centre of Texas. He is board certified in Neurology, neuromuscular medicine, neurophysiology, electrodiagnostic medicine and clinical neuromuscular pathology. He was president of the Texas Neurological society and VP of the neuromuscular section of the American Academy of Neurology. He has been the principal investigator of 145 clinical trials funded by pharmaceutical companies and NIH. He is on the ed board of Practical neurology and serves as a reviewer for the Lancet, BMJ, Neurology, Neurology genetics, and Muscle and Nerve. He is a past recipient of PROSE and BMA awards for best medical book and has been elected to the list of the "best doctors in America� since 2009.
