The Nuance

The ‘Nocebo Effect’ May Be Even Stronger Than Placebo

Belief is a powerful drug

Illustration: Kieran Blakey

“Help me. I took all my pills.”

According to a 2007 case report in the journal General Hospital Psychiatry, those were the words a 26-year-old man spoke to a hospital’s emergency department staff just before collapsing. An empty pill bottle skittered from one of…