It's Not All In Your Head: Descending Neural Mechanisms Of Placebo-induced Pain Control
Friday, August 28, 2009 - 23:40
in Health & Medicine
A new study reveals that when it comes to pain control, the "placebo effect" involves evolutionarily old pain control pathways in the human brainstem, the part of the brain that is continuous with the spinal cord. The research provides fascinating mechanistic insight into how and why simply expecting that a treatment will reduce pain can act as an effective analgesic.