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Believing in the Effectiveness of Treatment: From Placebo to Credition and Back

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Processes of Believing: The Acquisition, Maintenance, and Change in Creditions

Part of the book series: New Approaches to the Scientific Study of Religion ((NASR,volume 1))

Abstract

Recent placebo research has shown that the effectiveness of medical treatments depends not only on specific characteristics, such as pharmacological agents or physical properties, but also on contextual factors, including the patient’s expectations, emotions, and beliefs. This explains why even inert treatments can lead to substantial symptom improvement. The chapter gives a brief overview of findings from placebo studies and discusses possible interrelations with the framework of ‘credition’.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Medical Psychology, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    Karin Meissner

  2. Division Health Promotion, University of Applied Sciences Coburg, Coburg, Germany

    Karin Meissner

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  1. Karin Meissner
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Correspondence to Karin Meissner .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Catechetics and Religious Education, Karl-Franzens University of Graz, Graz, Austria

    Hans-Ferdinand Angel

  2. Pontifical University Antonianum, Rome, Italy

    Lluis Oviedo

  3. Department of Psychology, Westmont College, Santa Barbara, California, USA

    Raymond F. Paloutzian

  4. Department of Theology, University of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden

    Anne L.C. Runehov

  5. Department of Neurology, Centre for Neurology and Neuropsychiatry, LVR-Klinikum Düsseldorf, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Rüdiger J. Seitz

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Meissner, K. (2017). Believing in the Effectiveness of Treatment: From Placebo to Credition and Back. In: Angel, HF., Oviedo, L., Paloutzian, R., Runehov, A., Seitz, R. (eds) Processes of Believing: The Acquisition, Maintenance, and Change in Creditions. New Approaches to the Scientific Study of Religion , vol 1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50924-2_9

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