Individual Differences in Placebo Analgesic Effects

Trustees of Dartmouth College

Status: Begins enrollment in 7 months

Conditions: Healthy

Treatments: Behavioral: Control cream; Behavioral: Placebo cream- "promotion" suggestion; Behavioral: Placebo cream- "prevention" suggestion

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04669093

230138

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study examines the effects of placebo suggestions tailored to match or mismatch individual participants' motivational styles-an issue of person-situation 'fit' with important effects in public health settings, but which has been ignored in past research.

Enrollment: 60 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 55 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Healthy participants
• Dominant promotion focus or dominant prevention focus (based on our screening)

Exclusion criteria

• Currently or recently suffered from chronic pain (based on screening)
• Cannot tolerate heat pain applied to the forearm, based on a calibration task at the beginning of the experiment

Trial design

Primary purpose: Basic Science

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Crossover Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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60 participants in 2 patient groups

Placebo

Experimental group

Description:

All participants will participate in two sessions, one with a placebo suggestion that matches the participant's motivational style, and one with placebo suggestion that does not match their motivational style, in a pseudo-random order.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Placebo cream- "prevention" suggestion

Behavioral: Placebo cream- "promotion" suggestion

Control

Experimental group

Description:

Each session will also include a control phase, in which the same cream will be applied, and participants will be instructed that the cream has no analgesic effects.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Control cream