The evolutionary psychology of healing: a human success story

PainSci notes on Humphrey 2012:

Humphrey and Skoyles proposes an evolutionary explanation for the placebo paradox: even though it might be possible in theory, in practice our brains dare not routinely invoke powerful recovery mechanisms because they have costs that often outweigh the benefits. Here’s some excellent extra reading from Todd Hargrove, who did a nice job interpreting and explaining this idea. The additional perspective is most welcome.

related content

• Why does the placebo effect work? on YouTube.com.

Specifically regarding Humphrey 2012:

• bettermovement.org/…

This page is part of the PainScience BIBLIOGRAPHY, which contains plain language summaries of thousands of scientific papers & others sources. It’s like a highly specialized blog. A few highlights:

• Photobiomodulation therapy is not better than placebo in patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain: a randomised placebo-controlled trial. Guimarães 2021 Pain.
• No effect of creatine monohydrate supplementation on inflammatory and cartilage degradation biomarkers in individuals with knee osteoarthritis. Cornish 2018 Nutr Res.
• The CANBACK trial: a randomised, controlled clinical trial of oral cannabidiol for people presenting to the emergency department with acute low back pain. Bebee 2021 Med J Aust.
• Relationships Between Sleep Quality and Pain-Related Factors for People with Chronic Low Back Pain: Tests of Reciprocal and Time of Day Effects. Gerhart 2017 Ann Behav Med.
• Modulation in the elastic properties of gastrocnemius muscle heads in individuals with plantar fasciitis and its relationship with pain. Zhou 2020 Sci Rep.