From: The Washington Post
Think You Are Sick? It May Be the Nocebo Effect.
Have you ever walked out of a jam-packed concert or restaurant with a scratchy throat, worried that you just caught a virus? Or swallowed a medication and felt immediately unwell?
If yes, you’re personally familiar with the nocebo effect, though you probably didn’t know that’s what it’s called.
The nocebo effect is the opposite of the placebo effect — “the evil twin or the dark side of the placebo effect,” said John Kelley, distinguished professor of psychology at Endicott College in Beverly, Mass., and deputy director of the program in placebo studies at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. “It’s a negative version of the placebo effect, where people are suffering more than they otherwise would because of their negative expectations.”
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