{
  "id": "glossary:nocebo-effect",
  "collection": "glossary",
  "slug": "nocebo-effect",
  "name": "Nocebo effect",
  "summary": "Genuine symptoms produced by the expectation of harm rather than by the exposure itself — the inverse of the placebo effect.",
  "status": "verified",
  "lastVerified": "2026-08-12",
  "data": {
    "definition": "A nocebo response is a real, sometimes measurable symptom caused by a person's expectation that something will harm them. It is the mechanism the EHS provocation literature converges on: in 46 blinded experiments symptoms tracked what participants believed about the exposure rather than whether the field was actually present. Calling a symptom a nocebo response says nothing about whether it is real or disabling — it addresses only what triggered it, and therefore what is likely to help.",
    "category": "health",
    "seeAlso": [
      "studies:rubin-2010",
      "glossary:provocation-study",
      "glossary:ehs"
    ]
  },
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "rubin-2010",
      "title": "Idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to electromagnetic fields (formerly 'electromagnetic hypersensitivity'): an updated systematic review of provocation studies",
      "publisher": "Rubin GJ, Nieto-Hernandez R, Wessely S — Bioelectromagnetics 31(1):1–11",
      "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19681059/",
      "year": 2010,
      "kind": "peer-reviewed",
      "retrieved": "2026-08-12"
    },
    {
      "id": "who-ehs",
      "title": "Electromagnetic hypersensitivity (WHO backgrounder, December 2005; formerly Fact sheet 296)",
      "publisher": "World Health Organization",
      "url": "https://www.who.int/teams/environment-climate-change-and-health/radiation-and-health/non-ionizing/hypersensitivity",
      "year": 2005,
      "kind": "government",
      "retrieved": "2026-08-12"
    }
  ],
  "links": {
    "self": "https://emfbase.com/api/glossary/nocebo-effect",
    "html": "https://emfbase.com/glossary/nocebo-effect",
    "markdown": "https://emfbase.com/glossary/nocebo-effect.md",
    "collection": "https://emfbase.com/api/glossary"
  }
}