Taking Open Label Placebo Further: Trial of Imaginary Pills in Test Anxiety

Summary

Employing imaginary pills could offer a new way of investigating underlying mechanisms of open label placebo (OLP) treatment by eliminating the physical treatment constituent (i.e., the pill itself). This can reveal the power of the purely psychological component of a placebo and gives insights into underlying mechanisms of placebo effects. The aim of the project is to assess possible effects of an imaginary pill in comparison to no treatment, and open label placebo treatment in subjects with test anxiety.

Interventions (seven to three weeks before the exam) will be held online using a video Chat application such as zoom (https://zoom.us/) or skype (https://www.skype.com/de/) or will take place at the division of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Basel (Missionsstrasse 62, 4055 Basel).

Conditions

• Test Anxiety

Interventions

OTHER

information about "No treatment group"

Participants will receive no pills and will be told that they are in the no treatment group

OTHER

imaginary pill technique

Participants will be instructed to take an imagined pill. This instruction consists of a procedure including five steps (i.e., identifying the IP sensitive problem, building trust/belief/reality of the IP, constructing a personally meaningful IP, taking the IP, suggestions for self-administering the IP in real life, and building adherence). Participants in this group receive daily e-mail reminders.

OTHER

open label placebo

Participants will have the information that they are receiving inert pills (i.e. "P-Dragees", containing "Placebo"), combined with the following scientific rationale: (a) deceptive as well as open label placebos have been found to be effective in relieving symptoms in a variety of clinical conditions namely anxiety, depression, chronic pain (the placebo effect is powerful), (b) classical conditioning are one of the possible mechanism of this effect (the body automatically responds), (c) positive expectations may help but are not necessary, (suspend disbelief), (d) compliance with these instructions are important for outcome (taking the pills faithfully is important). Participants in this group receive daily e-mail reminders.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Prof. Dr., Jens Gaab, Division of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Basel, Switzerland

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Emer. Prof. Dr., Irving Kirsch, Universities of Hull and Plymouth, United Kingdom, and University of Connecticut, USA

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Cand. psych., Niels Bagge, Institut for Emotionsfokuseret Terapi, Roskilde, Denmark

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Asst. Prof. Dr., Claudia Carvalho, Department of Clinical and Health Psychology ISPA, Lisbon, Portugal

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Dr. phil., Cosima Locher, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Sarah Buergler, M. Sc. · Division of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Basel

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2020-03-06

Primary Completion

2021-07-31

Completion

2021-07-31

Countries

• Switzerland

Study Locations