The placebo effect and the autonomic nervous system: evidence for an intimate relationship.

Abstract in brief

• The article discusses how placebo interventions can influence bodily functions controlled by the autonomic nervous system (ANS), such as heart rate, digestion, and lung function, not just subjective feelings like pain or depression.
• It reviews different psychological models for understanding these autonomic placebo effects and provides an anatomical overview of the ANS, highlighting recent studies that show verbal suggestions during placebo treatments can alter specific organ functions.
• The findings support the idea that placebo effects on the ANS are mainly driven by subconscious processes based on lived experiences (implicit affordance), although more research is needed to fully understand the psychological and biological mechanisms involved.]