The placebo effect, which in certain cases makes it possible to treat a disease thanks to a psychological mechanism, no longer holds any secrets for scientists. However, in the case of migraine, this technique could have untapped advantages. According to a study published in the journal Science Translational Medicinethe effectiveness of a treatment against this type of headache could be reduced or increased depending on the message delivered by the doctor.
Researchers from Harvard Medical School in the United States conducted an experiment on 66 patients over the age of 18 who had suffered from migraines for at least three years. Each participant was given seven envelopes to open during migraine attacks. In the first was a diary to enable them to describe the intensity of the symptoms. Of the six other envelopes, some contained labels on which was written the words “10 mg of rizatriptan (an effective treatment)”, others the words “placebo” and finally others the inscription “rizatriptan or a placebo”. . All the volunteers then had to describe the evolution of the pain two hours after taking the tablet.
An unrecognized drug partner
The labels not systematically corresponding to the treatments inside the envelopes, the patients did not always ingest the tablet they thought they were taking. “When they received the rizatriptan labeled ‘placebo’, they were treated with the drug, but without any positive expectation,” explains one of the authors. “Our goal was to isolate its pharmaceutical effect. Conversely, the falsely labeled placebo ‘rizatriptan’ was an attempt to isolate the impact of the placebo effect.”
Conclusion: Of the 435 migraine attacks taken into account, the researchers found that, although rizatriptan was more effective against headaches, the placebo effect accounts for at least 50% of the overall pain relief. patients who participated in the study. This discovery would indicate that a treatment could double its effectiveness thanks to an improvement in the placebo effect.
“This study clarified the clinical effects of the drug and the placebo in a unique way,” adds Professor Kaptchuk, lead author of this work. “Our finding shows that patients’ level of pain relief was nearly identical when they were tricked into believing that an active drug was a placebo or that a placebo was a true migraine medication.”
