ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we discuss the placebo effect in the context of nursing. In the last decades, researchers have identified and analysed many different aspects of placebo effects with sophisticated biological tools that have revealed specific biological and chemical mechanisms at the neurological and cellular levels. Nonetheless, it is largely acknowledged that many things behind the placebo effect remained to be elucidated. The placebo effect is indeed a clear example of a clinical phenomenon that is difficult to be explained within the classical biomedical model of care. We hold the view that any critical and comprehensive analysis of the placebo effect should also take into account neuropsychological mechanisms like learning, expectation and emotion regulation. The therapeutic setting is actually a complex context, as any treatment administered routinely has at least two main components: one pharmacological, the other psychosocial. The first and foremost aspect of the psychosocial context is the patient-provider interaction. However, most of the scientific literature has focused on the patient-doctor relationship, overlooking the role of nursing professionals, that most of the time are those who administer the treatment and interact with the patients at the time of the administration. Therefore, given its specific nature, a philosophical analysis of nursing may offer the most suitable framework for dismantling the intricacies of the placebo effect.
