Noun

(en noun)

(pharmacology) A substance which a patient experiences as harmful due to previous negative perception, but which is in fact pharmacologically (medicinally) inactive.

* {{quote-book

, year= 1961 , year_published= , author= Walter P. Kennedy , by= , title= Medical World , url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/13752532 , original= , chapter= The nocebo reaction , section= September , isbn= , edition= , publisher= , location= , editor= , volume= 95 , page= 203 , passage= It is somewhat surprising that little attention has been drawn to the existence of the contrary effect [to the placebo] — which I may call the nocebo reaction. }}

* 2009 , Stuart Blackman, " Why health warnings can be bad," Financial Times , 25 Apr. (retrieved 12 May 2009):

In the case of the nocebo , it is negative expectations that become self-fulfilling prophecies.

* 2014 , Jennifer Welsh, " Researchers Who Provided Key Evidence For Gluten Sensitivity Have Now Thoroughly Shown That It Doesn't Exist," Business Insider , 15 May 2014):

It seems to be a "nocebo " effect — the self-diagnosed gluten sensitive patients expected to feel worse on the study diets, so they did.