Nocebo: the psychologic induction of pain.
More than two-thirds of an unselected sample of 34 college students reported mild headaches when told that a (nonexistent) electric current was passing through their heads. These reports appeared independent of whether the instructions emphasized the headache-producing effect of the current or whether the emphasis was on a perceptual task, with headache as only a possible side effect. The results are consistent with a view of pain as localized stress. They provide additional grounds for the suspicion that clinical focusing on pain may itself be a cause of pain.
D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009622:Noise; D010146:Pain / Q000523:psychology*; D010919:Placebos; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D013404:Suggestion; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis
D010919:Placebos