nocebo

plural nocebos

1. alsoattributivemedicineA substance which a patient experiences as harmful due to a previous negative perception, but which is in fact pharmacologically (medicinally) inactive.First known use 1961

   The nocebo effect is considered by some as the direct inverse of the placebo effect.

   4 more examples

   It is somewhat surprising that little attention has been drawn to the existence of the contrary effect [to the placebo] – which I may call the nocebo reaction.

   1961 September, Walter P. Kennedy, “The Nocebo Reaction”, in Medical World, volume 95, London: Medical Practitioners' Union, →ISSN, →OCLC, →PMID, page 203

   In the case of the nocebo, it is negative expectations that become self-fulfilling prophecies.

   2009 April 25, Stuart Blackman, “Why health warnings can be bad”, in Financial Times

   It seems to be a "nocebo" effect – the self-diagnosed gluten sensitive patients expected to feel worse on the study diets, so they did.

   2014 May 15, Jennifer Welsh, “Researchers who Provided Key Evidence for Gluten Sensitivity have now Thoroughly Shown that It Doesn’t Exist”, in Business Insider, archived from the original on 02 Jul 2017

   If there's one lesson to be drawn from the nocebo effect, it's that ideas are never merely ideas. […] Maybe you see where I'm going with this: our grim view of humanity is also a nocebo.

   2020, Rutger Bregman, Humankind, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN