• Elżbieta A Bajcar, Karolina Wiercioch-Kuzianik, Wacław M Adamczyk, and Przemysław Bąbel.
• Institute of Psychology, Pain Research Group, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland.
• Pain Med. 2020 Mar 1; 21 (3): 548-560.

ObjectiveTo investigate whether direct experience (i.e., classical conditioning) or verbal suggestion is more important in inducing nocebo hyperalgesia, five groups (total sample size, N = 99) were studied: conditioning, congruent conditioning, incongruent conditioning, verbal suggestion, and control.MethodsParticipants in groups with conditioning experienced more intensive pain stimuli after presentation of a white circle. In the congruent conditioning group, suggestion that the circle would precede more intensive pain stimuli was additionally provided, whereas in the incongruent conditioning group, the opposite suggestion was used. Control and verbal suggestion groups received pain stimuli of one intensity; however, the latter received suggestion that a circle would precede pain stimuli of higher intensity.ResultsThe nocebo effect was observed in all conditioning groups, regardless of the verbal suggestions used. Moreover, the experience of hyperalgesia was able to nullify the effect of the verbal suggestion of analgesia. Incongruence between verbal suggestion and pain experience produced expectancies that affected nocebo hyperalgesia.ConclusionsThe results of this preliminary study suggest that direct experience seems to be more important than verbal suggestion in inducing nocebo hyperalgesia.© 2019 American Academy of Pain Medicine. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

16 keywords...

hide…