THE EFFECT OF OPEN-LABEL PLACEBOS ON NONMARITAL ROMANTIC BREAKUP RECOVERY: A STAGE 1 REGISTERED REPORT STUDY

Abstract

Nonmarital romantic breakups are difficult and emotionally painful experiences. Recovery can take from weeks to months, and there are very few established interventions that exist for helping to promote recovery. Recent research reveals that open-label placebos (OLPs), which are placebos prescribed to a patient who knows the medication is inert and functions via the placebo effect, have proven effective in reducing subjective experiences of pain in chronic medical conditions. This study has borrowed from literature about OLPs in order to conduct a pilot study examining whether there is initial efficacy for an open-label placebo in promoting breakup recovery. Specifically, XXX college-aged young adults who had recently experienced a stressful romantic breakup were randomly assigned to either a control condition (measurement only) or an experimental condition in which they completed the study measures and received a Zeebo placebo pill every day for the duration of the five weeks of the experiment. In the experimental condition, participants were explicitly told that they were receiving an inert pill, but they were informed that placebo interventions show beneficial effects. We hypothesized that participants who received the open-label placebo would show an increased rate of recovery relative to those who did not receive the open-label placebo over the 5-week course of treatment and observation.