A control condition in which participants did not possess any analgesic was also included.Īmple psychological research has revealed that individuals experience psychological and cognitive consequences by merely possessing an object. psychological possession) affects people’s objective physical pain responses and subjective psychological pain perception. later) implicated by different forms of analgesic possession (physical vs. In this paper, we report a randomized controlled experiment examining how temporal expectancy (expecting to acquire analgesic benefit earlier vs. This form of possession creates an expectation to acquire the analgesic benefit later, if desired. However, possession can also be psychological in that people can hold a perception or feeling or knowledge of possessing an analgesic for instance, possessing an analgesic prescription. Such physical possession creates an expectation to acquire the analgesic benefit early upon the experience of pain. In these studies, mere possession occurred when participants were given a tangible placebo analgesic cream directly and immediately during the experiment. Recently, it has been demonstrated that, under certain circumstances, merely possessing (without using) a placebo analgesic is sufficient to reduce pain participants merely possessing a placebo analgesic showed improved placebo analgesia when compared to participants without possessing a placebo analgesic 6, 7, 8. Although using a placebo analgesic first requires possessing it, the impact of merely possessing a placebo analgesic has been largely neglected in the research literature. These prior studies on placebo analgesia usually involved the use of a placebo analgesic and provided evidence suggesting the existence of placebo analgesic responses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. A great deal of research has investigated the placebo effect in the area of pain and analgesia. The results of this study can advance knowledge about pain mechanisms and novel pain management.Ī placebo response occurs when one experiences psychological and/or physical changes upon using medical treatment procedures or substances that inherently have no curing power 1, 2. No significant group difference was found in subjective pain perception. Results revealed that participants in the physical-possession condition reported greater pain-threshold, F(2, 85) = 6.65, p = 0.002, and longer pain-tolerance, F(2, 85) = 7.19, p = 0.001 than participants in the psychological-possession and no-possession conditions. Their objective physical pain responses (pain-threshold and pain-tolerance), and subjective psychological pain perception (pain intensity, severity, quality, and unpleasantness) were measured. Participants did a cold pressor test (CPT) to experience experimentally-induced pain on their non-dominant hand. Participants were randomized into one of three different possession conditions: physical-possession condition (participants possessed a tangible placebo analgesic oil, inducing an expectation to acquire analgesic benefit early upon the experience of pain), psychological-possession condition (participants possessed a coupon, which can be redeemed for a placebo analgesic oil, inducing an expectation to acquire analgesic benefit later upon the experience of pain), or no-possession condition. Healthy participants ( n = 90) were presented with a vial of olive oil (placebo), described as a blended essential oil that blocks pain sensations upon nasal inhalation, and were asked to anticipate the benefits of such analgesic oil to the self (such as anticipating the analgesic oil to reduce their pain). The current study investigates how temporary expectation of pain reduction associated with different forms of possessing a placebo analgesic affects pain outcomes. An emerging line of research argues that, under some circumstances, merely possessing (but not using) a placebo analgesic could induce placebo analgesia. Research on placebo analgesia usually shows that people experienced a reduction in pain after using a placebo analgesic.
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