Clinical research on social observational learning (SoL) as an underlying mechanism for inducing expectancy and eliciting analgesic placebo effects is lacking. This double-blinded randomized controlled clinical trial investigated the influence of SoL on medication-augmenting placebo effects in 44 patients with chronic low back pain. Our hypothesis was that observing positive drug effects on pain and mobility in another patient could increase pain reduction and functional capacity. To test this, we compared the effects of observing positive treatment outcomes in a sham patient (the social learning group [SoLG]) vs hearing the same sham patient report neutral effects (the control group). In the SoLG, the sham patient told peers about pain reduction due to amitriptyline and demonstrated his improved mobility by bending forwards and sideways while he told the control group only that he was taking amitriptyline. The primary outcome was a reduction in clinical low back pain self-ratings. The secondary outcome was perceptions of pain-related disability. The exploratory outcome was mood and coping statements. Data collection occurred before and after the intervention and 2 weeks later. After the intervention, pain decreased in both groups (F [1, 41] = 7.16, P < 0.05, d = 0.83), with no difference between groups. However, the SoLG showed a significantly larger decrease in perceived disability (F [1, 41] = 5, P < 0.05, d = 0.63). The direct observation of patient with chronic low back pain of positive treatment outcomes in the sham patient seems to have enhanced the treatment effects while indirect verbal reports of reduced pain did not.

社会观察学习（SoL）作为诱导期望和引发镇痛安慰剂效应的潜在机制，目前尚缺乏临床研究。这项双盲随机对照临床试验研究了 SoL 对 44 名慢性腰痛患者的药物增强安慰剂效应的影响。我们的假设是，观察药物对另一名患者的疼痛和活动能力的积极作用可以增加疼痛减轻和功能能力。为了测试这一点，我们比较了在假患者（社会学习组 [SoLG]）中观察积极治疗结果的效果与听到相同假患者报告中性效果（对照组）的效果。在 SoLG 中，假患者告诉同伴阿米替林可减轻疼痛，并通过向前和侧身弯曲来展示他的活动能力得到改善，而他只告诉对照组他正在服用阿米替林。主要结果是临床腰痛自我评分的降低。次要结果是对与疼痛相关的残疾的看法。探索性结果是情绪和应对陈述。数据收集发生在干预前后以及两周后。干预后，两组疼痛均减轻（F [1, 41] = 7.16，P < 0.05，d = 0.83），组间无差异。然而，SoLG 显示感知残疾显着大幅下降 (F [1, 41] = 5, P < 0.05, d = 0.63)。对慢性腰痛患者的直接观察对假手术患者的积极治疗结果似乎增强了治疗效果，而间接口头报告减轻疼痛则没有。