Expensive drugs can be more effective than cheap drugs due to self-hypnosis of patients, but the side effects from the use of such drugs can also be stronger. A study by scientists from Germany, the USA and the UK on this issue is published in the journal Science.
If the patient is convinced that the medicine is effective, this can really affect his well-being and increase the effect of the medicine. This effect is known as the placebo effect. In a new study, scientists have shown that its downside, the nocebo effect, also works. It manifests itself in the fact that by taking an expensive drug, people prepare for the fact that the side effects from it will be significant, and this belief actually increases the harm from drugs.
In the study, scientists asked 49 people to test anti-itch creams that did not actually contain active ingredients. Half of the patients received a cream with a sonorous name and in an expensive package, the rest - a cheaper-looking product. The organizers of the experiment warned that a side effect of using the cream may be an increased sensitivity to pain. Each of the participants in the experiment was smeared with a little kerm on his hand and after a while a device heated to 45 ° C was applied to it.
As a result, those who received what they perceived to be the more expensive drug rated pain from a hot object on average twice as high as those who received the “cheap” cream. As the experiment continued, the first group stated that the pain was getting worse, and the second that it gradually subsided.
The findings of the study were confirmed by observations of brain activity. Patients with the "more expensive" cream and more severe pain showed more activity in the prefrontal cortex, as in the placebo effect studies. Also, scientists noticed greater activity in the areas of the spinal cord that are responsible for the perception of pain.
According to the authors of the work, its results should help doctors prescribe the most effective medicine, depending on the expectations and beliefs of the patient.
