title: The nocebo effect: do no harm.
abstract: The nocebo effect creates negative expectations about symptoms and can have devastating influence on patient recovery. Just as the placebo effect works by making patients believe they will get better, the nocebo effect can serve to make patients worse. Two case histories are presented in which patients were assigned diagnoses without objective physical findings. This resulted in poor outcomes. Physicians should avoid assigning a diagnosis without objective physical evidence and thus avoid creating the nocebo effect in patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Louisville, USA.
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Kasdan
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bruner
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015987:Effect Modifier, Epidemiologic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D012019:Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013901:Thoracic Outlet Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology*