The major aim is to examine the potential of learning the body to produce a similar physiological (autonomic, neuroendocrine, or immune) and physical (e.g., desensitization of persistent physical symptoms) response to placebo medication than to active medication (pharmacological conditioning). If proven…

The effects of many treatments are determined, to a significant degree, by factors other than the medicine or treatment itself. For example, placebo effects can be equal to the effect size of for example antidepressants or painkillers. Contributing factors are the trust placed in the doctor, the expectation…

We study how communication can heal and harm when patients are confronted with an illness. Most of our studies focus on serious illnesses such as advanced cancer. Communication lies at the heart of medicine, yet we do not always know which specific communication helps patients. Moreover, many complaints…

If a pill containing no active ingredients still helps, this positive expectation is called a placebo effect. A negative expectation is called a nocebo effect. Both can be produced by verbal suggestions and conditioning. According to Andrea Evers’ research group, combining these is the most promising…

It is becoming increasingly clear that the placebo effect has a great influence on medical treatment. An international, interdisciplinary team of researchers led by Professor of Health Psychology Andrea Evers from Leiden University has now written a first set of guidelines on how to apply the placebo…

Health psychologist Aleksandrina Skvortsova has made clever use of the Pavlov effect to link the ‘cuddle’ hormone oxytocin with the placebo effect. This effect can alter the level of oxytocin in the body, making it possible for people to reduce the amount of medicine they need while still feeling good.…

Sometimes fake medicine is enough to cure a patient. But how exactly do placebos work? And did you know that there is also the placebo effect in reverse, the nocebo effect? Psychologist Stefanie Meeuwis explains in this Science Shot.

Even if you have a healthy lifestyle, there's a lot to experience and learn during the Healthy University Week, from 26 to 30 October. Health psychologist Andrea Evers is enthusiastic about the week ahead. She tells us about the programme and gives us a taste of her own talk on what the placebo effect…

Medicines can work even if they have no active ingredient. The first international scientific conference on placebos will take place in Leiden from 2 to 4 April. Placebo researcher Andrea Evers, who is also chairing the conference, answers some pressing questions.

The tuk-tuk of the European City Of Science Leiden 2022 sent science on its way to the neighbourhood. On the Vijf Meiplein in Leiden, Andrea Evers' placebo team pitched its tent to everyone who wanted to know more about the effect of words and expectations. Experience the day of the placebo effect in…

We aim to create an innovative e-learning and virtual reality training that helps healthcare providers to optimize placebo effects and minimizes nocebo effects via their communication.

Conference

Lecture, LIBC Sylvius Lecture

Conference

Lecture

In this research line, the role pharmacological agents and neurochemcial processes play in behavior and cognition is examined with a particular focus on pain, placebo and nocebo effects and intensive care treatments.

PhD defence

Psychological processes have a major effect on the course of a disease and the effects of medical treatment. Researchers in the field of Psychoneurobiology examine the interactions between body and mind. They investigate the effects of stress as well as the effect of placebos and nocebos, which can…

PhD defence

Promotors: C.A.J. Knibbe, Anthonius de Boer, Co-promotor: M.M.J. van der Vorst

Health psychologist Andrea Evers is one of the 19 new members, selected by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), who have been inaugurated on 16 September 2019. The Academy has now about 550 members.

To make the right clinical decisions or develop effective diagnostic tests and treatments, it is important to understand the underlying mechanisms of a condition or behavior.

PhD defence

Persistent somatic symptoms are long term symptoms that lack a clear medical explanation. These symptoms have a high prevalence where most people know someone who experiences such symptoms or they experience such symptoms themselves. Symptoms can vary greatly in and between people. While one person…

The research connected to this topic is related to Work and health.

The more we learn about a (neuro-)psychological or physical disorder and the related behavioral factors, the better we can not only identify them, but also treat them. It is therefore important that recent insights about (neuro-)psychological problems and related behavioral factors are incorporated…

PhD defence

Andrea Evers, Professor of Health Psychology at Leiden University, has won the Stevin Prize – alongside the Spinoza Prize, the highest scientific award in the Netherlands. She is the third social scientist from Leiden in a row to win one of these prizes. ‘Leiden attracts freethinkers.’

Health psychologist Kaya Peerdeman has won the article award of the Postgraduate School For Research and Education in Experimental Psychopathology (EPP) for the best academic paper in 2015-2016. Published in European Journal of Pain on 19 April 2017.

Positive expectations about a medicine may help it to work more effectively, even if you tell patients about this placebo effect. The reverse, the nocebo effect, works in the same way. Health psychologist Stefanie Meeuwis found evidence for this in various studies. PhD defence 3 June.

The research connected to this topic is related to E-health.

Stimulating the vagus nerve, which provides a direct link between the gut and brain, makes people pay less attention to sad facial expressions. This research study by psychologists Katerina Johnson and Laura Steenbergen is published in the journal Neuroscience, and made it to the cover.

Since itch and pain can be very burdensome, especially when individuals suffer from (either of) these symptoms chronically, it is important to know the factors by which these sensations are influenced. It becomes more and more clear that psychological factors play an important role in the experience…

The research carried out within the unit Health, Medical and Neuropsychology investigates the psychological factors of health and disease, and the development of innovative treatment.

Two Leiden researchers of the Institute of Psychology have been given the opportunity to realise their research plans for the coming three years thanks to a Veni grant from the Netherlands organisation for scientific research. Hanneke Hendriks is researcher in the field of Social and organisational…

PhD defence

If a new method has been developed to recognize and treat a (neuro-)psychological disorder or related behavioral factors, it cannot yet be used directly in clinical practice. First, the method should be evaluated, preferably in randomized controlled trials.

Our everyday life consists of all sorts of spatial processes: we find our way to work, remember where we left our keys, and are able to pick up our cup of coffee. We study how the human brain processes such spatial processes. From a clinical perspective, we are interested in how acquired brain damage…

How can we implement the technique of pharmacological resting-state fMRI to improve the diagnosis of dementia?

To relieve a patient's pain, it can be effective to induce expectations. This finding is promising for optimising the effectiveness of treatments, conclude Kaya Peerdeman and colleagues in their article in PAIN.

If you imagine in advance that something is not going to hurt, this could mean you experience less pain. This discovery was made by health psychologist Kaya Peerdeman during her PhD research on the placebo effect. PhD defence 7 February.