Contexts of clinical placebo use
depression, infections, chronic pain, anxiety
CHRONIC PAIN, INFECTIONS
Our initial focus group results demonstrated that participants were most supportive of placebo use for non-serious illnesses and in the context of mental health treatments (e.g. anxiety and depression). Study 3 confirmed that placebo use for less severe depression was rated more acceptable and effective than for chronic pain conditions, but attitudes were most favourable in the scenario involving inappropriate placebo use for infections. Future research will need to pay attention to the particular prescribing context and consider placebo use against the background of previous attempts to de-license ineffective or unnecessary treatments [