What you get is what you expect

Pain is a major health care problem worldwide. It affects the well-being of millions of individuals, and its financial burden upon our societies is considerable. Pain is not a simple reflection of the degree of tissue-damage, it is strongly influenced by expectations and beliefs individuals hold about pain and their ability to cope with it. In this lecture, Dr Katja Wiech from the Centre for Pain Research, talks about research into how expectations can influence the outcome of pain treatment.