Call for Papers: “Placebo Effects: Basic Mechanisms and Clinical Applications”
A Topical Issue of the Zeitschrift für Psychologie
Significant progress has been made in the investigation of placebo effects. Recent research shows that they are genuine psychobiological events attributable to the overall therapeutic context. Placebo effects can appear in experimental trials as well as in clinical settings. There is some initial evidence that patients may be more prone to these effects, compared to healthy people, and it has also been shown that placebo effects may last up to several years after treatment. On the psychological level, expectancy via instructions and expectancy via classical conditioning have been identified as the two primary mechanisms. Both seem to be important in boosting subjective reliefs across different diseases, even if most of our knowledge about the neurobiology of the phenomenon “placebo effect” comes from the field of pain and analgesia.
On the neurobiological level, recent research has identified multiple placebo mechanisms, although more research is needed. This topical issue will bring together three different aspects:
- a.an analysis of the most relevant psychological strategies to induce bodily placebo-related changes;
- b.best evidence of neurobiologically significant placebo effects; and
- c.implications of placebo research for clinical practice.
By integrating these three perspectives, it will offer a broad survey of this topic for both scientists and clinicians. Issues addressed may include evidence for psychological strategies for harnessing significant placebo-induced effects, for example, brain-endogenous release of opioids, and how such benefits can be obtained in patients suffering from, for example, chronic pain.
Thus, we solicit papers for this topical issue of the Zeitschrift für Psychologie that examine these three aspects of placebo research. In addition to suggestions for full original or review articles, shorter research notes and opinion papers are also welcome. We invite researchers of various areas of psychology and medicine to submit their abstracts on potential papers electronically to either of the guest editors:
Regine Klinger (mailto:rklinger@uni-hamburg.
Luana Colloca (mailto:luana.
How to submit: Interested authors should submit a letter of intent including: (1) a working title for the manuscript, (2) names, affiliations, and contact information for all authors, and (3) an abstract of no more than 500 words detailing the content of the proposed manuscript.
There is a two-stage submissions process. Initially, interested authors are requested to submit only abstracts of their proposed papers. Authors of the selected abstracts will then be invited to submit full papers. All papers will undergo blind peer review.
- Deadline for submission of abstracts is July 15, 2013.
- Deadline for submission of full papers is November 15, 2013.
The journal seeks to maintain a short turnaround time, with the final version of the accepted papers being due by March 15, 2014. The topical issue will be published as issue 3 (2014).
For additional information, please contact either of the guest editors.
The Zeitschrift für Psychologie, founded in 1890, is the oldest psychology journal in Europe and the second oldest in the world. One of the founding editors was Hermann Ebbinghaus. Since 2007 it is published in English and devoted to publishing topical issues that provide state-of-the-art reviews of current research in psychology.
For detailed author guidelines, please see the journal’s website at www.hogrefe.com/journals/zfp/
