eli5 can the placebo effect negatively affect you

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One example I was curious with if you believe you have an eye disease or if you think that something wrong will happen to your eye as if like lines will specifically start to curve more more as you get older will that potentially be a possibility?

So basically if I picture and imagine the effect happening will it essentially cause a problem to where it’s not curable? I know that seems random but it was just on my mind.

What is the largest capacity of the placebo effect?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

The placebo effect can negatively affect you, but not in the way you are thinking.

The placebo effect is where you are told a specific treatment will cause a benefit, and then despite getting a placebo, you experience the benefit anyway. The opposite is the “nocebo” effect: you are told a treatment might have a certain negative side effect, and despite getting a placebo, you experience the negative effect anyway.

What you are describing is not the placebo effect. The placebo effect requires some kind of (false) treatment that does not actually cause the benefits the patient perceives.

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