Description
Book SynopsisBased on a meeting in November 2000, this book brings together researchers from a wide range of disciplines to examine the biological, behavioral, social, cultural and ethical aspects related to the placebo effect. Perspectives on the necessity for including a placebo in randomized clinical trials will also be examined.
This is the first attempt to examine the evidence-base of the placebo effect and will provide important information for clinicans.
Table of ContentsContributors.
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.
