Science of the Placebo

Harry Guess is the editor of Science of the Placebo: Toward an Interdisciplinary Research Agenda, published by Wiley.Linda Engel is the editor of Science of the Placebo: Toward an Interdisciplinary Research Agenda, published by Wiley.Arthur Kleinman is the editor of Science of the Placebo: Toward an Interdisciplinary Research Agenda, published by Wiley.John Kusek is the editor of Science of the Placebo: Toward an Interdisciplinary Research Agenda, published by Wiley.

• Contributors. Foreword.1 An Overview.Section 1: Historical and Ethical Perspectives.2 “Seeing” the Placebo Effect: Historical Legacies and Present Opportunities.3 Ethical Issues in Use of Placebo in Medical Practice and Clinical Trials.Section 2: Elucidating Placebo Effects: Explanatory Mechanisms.4 Explanatory Mechanisms for Placebo Effects: Cultural Influences and the Meaning Response.5 Explanatory Mechanisms for Placebo Effects: Cognition, Personality and Social Learning.6 Explanatory Mechanisms for Placebo Effects: Pavlovian Conditioning.7 Regression to the Mean or Placebo Effect?.Section 3: Elucidating Placebo Effects: Intervening Psychophysiology.8 Neuriendocrine Meidators of Placebo Effects on Immunity.9 Endogenous Opioid and Non-Opioid Pathways as Mediators of Placebno Analgesia.Section 4: Use of Placebo Groups in Clinical Trials-Methodological and Ethical Issues.10 Placebo controlled Trials and Active Controlled Trials: Ethics and Inference.11 When is it Appropriate to Use a Placebo Arm in a Trial?.12 The Pros and Cons of Non-Inferiority (Equivalence) Trials.13 Use of Placebo in Large-Scale, Pragmatic Trials.14 Placebo Controls in Clinical Trials of New Therapies for Conditions for which there are Known Effective Treatments.Section 5: Priorities for Future Research.15 The Research and Ethical Agenda.Section 6: Conclusions and Future Directions.16 Conclusions and Future Directions.Appendix.Index.