13

Placebos and the

interrelationship

between beliefs,

behaviour and

health

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

The study of placebos is a good illustration of many of the

issues central to health psychology. This chapter examines

problems with defining placebos and then assesses the

different theories concerning how they work, highlighting the

central role for patient expectations. It then outlines

the implications of placebos for the different areas of health

psychology discussed in the rest of this book, such as health

beliefs and illness cognitions, health behaviours, stress, pain

and illness and places this within a discussion of the

relationship between the mind and body and the

interrelationship between beliefs, behaviour and health

and illness.

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