Department of Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Gutenbergstr. 18, 35032 Marburg, Germany.
Trends Pharmacol Sci. 2012 Mar;33(3):165-72. doi: 10.1016/j.tips.2011.12.001. Epub 2012 Jan 25.
The knowledge and systematic application of the placebo effect remains limited, although its importance to the treatment of various medical conditions has increasingly been recognized. A possible application of the placebo effect to pharmacotherapy is seen in conditioning processes that aim at a placebo-controlled dose reduction of drugs while maintaining the efficacy of the medical treatment. The pairing of a placebo and a pharmacological agent may achieve satisfactory treatment outcomes in combination with a lower dose of medication. This procedure includes classic and instrumental conditioning processes that involve both conscious and non-conscious information processing. Although recent studies have gathered preliminary evidence for the efficacy of placebo-controlled dose reduction (e.g. in psoriasis and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD]), they have also illustrated the difficulties that are inherent to this approach. We critically review previous approaches and discuss designs for clinical trials that seem appropriate to the investigation of conditioned placebo effects in pharmacotherapy.
虽然安慰剂效应的知识和系统应用仍然有限，但其对各种医疗状况的治疗的重要性已日益得到认可。安慰剂效应在药物治疗中的一种可能应用是在 Conditioning 过程中看到的，该过程旨在控制药物的安慰剂剂量减少，同时保持医疗效果。将安慰剂和药理试剂配对，可能会以较低的药物剂量获得令人满意的治疗效果。该过程包括经典和工具性 Conditioning 过程，涉及有意识和无意识的信息处理。尽管最近的研究为安慰剂对照剂量减少的疗效提供了初步证据（例如在银屑病和注意力缺陷多动障碍[ADHD]中），但它们也说明了这种方法所固有的困难。我们批判性地回顾了以前的方法，并讨论了临床试验的设计，这些设计似乎适合于研究药物治疗中的条件性安慰剂效应。
