Placebo effects in neuropathic pain conditions

Abstract

Management of neuropathic pain is exceptionally challenging and development of new drugs and ways to optimize treatment effects in clinical practice are needed. Over the last decade, some of the mechanisms underlying placebo effects have been elucidated and some of the insights have the potential to improve the treatment for neuropathic pain. Research suggests that the increasing placebo responses observed in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) for neuropathic pain pose challenges for the development and availability of new effective pain medications. In neuropathic pain, these placebo responses are typically not controlled for the natural history of pain and other confounding factors. Thus, our knowledge about the magnitude and mechanisms of placebo effects in neuropathic pain is sparse. A few mechanistic studies investigating placebo effects by controlling for natural history of pain have found large placebo analgesia effects in neuropathic pain. Psychological factors such as expectations and emotions play a substantial role in inducing the placebo effects. Here, we review placebo effects and the psychological and neurobiological mechanisms contributing to the placebo effects. The knowledge obtained from studies of placebo mechanisms can help improve the information that can be obtained from RCTs and potentially improve development of new pain medications and optimize treatment of neuropathic pain in clinical practice.

Keywords: Expectation; Neuropathic pain; Nocebo effect; Nocebo hyperalgesia; Placebo analgesia, randomized controlled trial; Placebo effect; Placebo response.