Abstract
Itch is a commonly experienced symptom of acute and chronic dermatological and systemic conditions. Placebo and nocebo effects, positive and negative effects experienced after both real and sham interventions, putatively due to positive or negative outcome expectancies, can have a significant impact on the experience of itch and its treatment. Experimental methods to induce and study placebo and nocebo effects on itch have been developed, utilizing various combinations of expectancy-induction methods (eg, conditioning, verbal suggestions) and short-acting itch-evoking stimuli (eg, histamine, electrical, or mechanical stimulation). The aim of this review is to describe the current research methods used to induce placebo and nocebo effects on itch, and the results of these studies. The benefits and drawbacks of different expectancy-induction methods and itch-evoking stimuli are described, and future directions for research and clinical application are discussed.
Highlights
Itch is a commonly experienced symptom of acute and chronic dermatological and systemic conditions
More research has been done on pain, and those findings can inform the research conducted on itch
Placebo and nocebo effects on itch have been induced with verbal suggestion, conditioning, and the combination of these methods for a variety of pruritic and inert compounds
Summary
Itch is a commonly experienced symptom of acute and chronic dermatological and systemic conditions. Positive and negative effects experienced after both real and sham interventions, putatively due to positive or negative outcome expectancies, can have a significant impact on the experience of itch and its treatment. Experimental methods to induce and study placebo and nocebo effects on itch have been developed, utilizing various combinations of expectancy-induction methods (eg, conditioning, verbal suggestions) and short-acting itch-evoking stimuli (eg, histamine, electrical, or mechanical stimulation). The aim of this review is to describe the current research methods used to induce placebo and nocebo effects on itch, and the results of these studies. Experimental studies of placebo and nocebo effects on itch typically combine expectancy-induction methods (eg, verbal suggestion) with the administration of a pruritic stimulus to induce a placebo or nocebo effect on the participants’ experience. Common benefits and drawbacks of these methods will be Blythe et al Itch (2019) 4:e27
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
