The study is conducted in a sample of healthy volunteers.
Conditions
Interventions
Open-label verbal suggestions about a placebo TENS device and open-label conditioning to induce and reduce nocebo effects on pressure pain, in the form of nocebo conditioning, continued nocebo conditi
Sponsors
Leiden University
Eligibility
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria: Healthy female volunteers between 18 and 35 years old, with a good understanding of written and spoken Dutch.
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria: Severe somatic or psychiatric morbidity (e.g., heart/lung diseases, DSM-V psychiatric disorders), Raynaud’s disease, chronic pain complaints at present or in the past, current pain complaints, current use of medication, injuries on the non-dominant hand, refusal/inability to remove nail polish or artificial nails for the experiment, pregnancy, color-blindness.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| The change in nocebo effect from after nocebo conditioning (part 1) to after counterconditioning, extinction, and continued nocebo conditioning (part 2) will be compared across groups. Nocebo effects will be calculated by taking the mean difference of pain ratings during experimental trials (placebo TENS device activation) versus pain ratings during control trials (placebo TENS device deactivation) in the test phase. | — |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| The comparison of the induction of nocebo effects after nocebo conditioning and sham conditioning. The mean difference between self-reported pain ratings during experimental and control trials of the testing phase (i.e., nocebo effects) will be calculated for nocebo conditioning and sham conditioning groups, and then compared. | — |
Contacts
Public ContactAndrea Evers
Leiden University
Outcome results
None listed