Trial reportPloS one2022
"Let's see what happens:"-Women's experiences of open-label placebo treatment for menopausal hot flushes in a randomized controlled trial.
Trial report in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- Dispositional optimism and open-label placebo responses in hair cortisol concentrations and psychological distress-A randomized controlled trial.Applied psychology. Health and well-being · 2026Trial
- Roles of administration route, expectation, and belief in placebos in a randomized controlled trial with open-label placebos.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Trial
- Review
- Open-label placebo effects on psychological distress and hair cortisol in a randomized controlled trial - the moderating role of the five-factor personality traits.Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2026Article
- Preoperative Anxiolysis and Treatment Expectation (PATE Trial): open-label placebo treatment to reduce preoperative anxiety in female patients undergoing gynecological laparoscopic surgery - study protocol for a bicentric, prospective, randomized-controlled trial.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- Placebo mechanisms in aging: A randomized controlled trial comparing deceptive and open-label placebos on psychological, cognitive, and physical functioning in older adults.International journal of clinical and health psychology : IJCHPArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Open-label (honestly prescribed) placebos are an ethical way to evoke placebo effects in patients. As part of a mixed-methods study, we conducted in-depth interviews with eight menopausal women who underwent and benefitted from open-label placebo treatment in a randomized-controlled trial of hot flushes. Data were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. We found that the women had low expectations about the placebo treatment yet endorsed what they referred to as "hope" and openness to "see what happens". Recording hot flushes via the symptom diary was viewed as a valuable opportunity for self-examination and appraising outcomes. Receiving relief from the placebo treatment empowered women and enhanced their sense of control and agency. In summary, participants' initial openness towards placebos, their hopes to get better, monitoring symptoms closely, and taking the initiative to address symptoms were components of a positive open-label placebo experience.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.