Nocebo Education to Reduce the Potential Unintended Harms of Mental Health Awareness
Key facts
- Who runs it
- University of Toronto
- Where
- Canada1 site in 1 countryChoose a country to see its sites
- Trial code
- Status
- Completed
- People taking part
- 215 people enrolled
- Started
- 16 Oct 2024
- Ended
- 8 Dec 2024
- Type of study
- Interventional, 3 groupsOne group gets an existing treatment, for comparison.
- Treatments tested
- ADHD information workshop
- ADHD information workshop with nocebo education
- Sleep workshop
- Record updated
- 19 February 2025
Who can take part
- Age
- 18 years to 25 years
- Sex
- Women and men
- Healthy volunteers
- Can take part
The registry criteria, word for word
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Who can take part
- No existing diagnosis of ADHD, or history/current diagnosis of any other neurological/psychiatric disorder
- Score below 18 on the Adult ADHD Self-Reported Symptom (ASRS) Checklist Screener
- No current intake of medication to treat a psychiatric disorder (e.g., antidepressants)
- Fluent in English
- Access to a computer, tablet, or smartphone with internet capability
- Normal or corrected-to-normal vision and hearing
Who cannot take part
- Active intake of medication
- Diagnosis of ADHD or any other neurological/psychiatric disorder
This trial has no sites in United States.
It has sites in one country. Choose a country to see its sites.
About the trial
What the trial wants to find out
This project has two aims. First, the research team will confirm whether providing a mental health awareness workshop poses unintended harms by raising the rate of self-diagnosis (as opposed to a neutral workshop) and causing worsening symptoms in previously healthy young adults over a period of one week. The study will focus on determining this in the context of ADHD, as it includes broad symptoms that overlap with normal experience, is commonly overdiagnosed, and is included in many awareness campaigns for neurodiversity and mental health.
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Second, the study will test whether nocebo effect education, or in other words, learning about the nocebo effects, during mental health awareness sessions "inoculates" against them. Simply learning about the role negative expectations play in creating side effects has been shown to reduce nocebo side effects of medications; perhaps, the same applies to mental health.
Researchers will compare the outcome of the ADHD workshop with that of the same workshop but with nocebo information included; both experimental conditions will also be compared to an active control condition. Participants are hypothesised to report the following pattern of symptoms:
ADHD information > ADHD + nocebo education > Control
During the study participants will:
1. Randomize the participants to one of the three workshop conditions to watch 2. Report self-diagnosis score immediately after the workshop and 1 week later. 3. Report symptoms 1 week later.
The 3 groups in the trial
- ADHD information workshopTreatment being tested
- ADHD information workshop with nocebo educationTreatment being tested
- Sleep and dreams workshopExisting treatment, for comparison
Treatment: Sleep workshop
Data and sources
- Registry record
- Listed on ClinicalTrials.gov.
- Record updated
- 19 February 2025