Sickness behavior is not all about the immune response: possible roles of expectations and prediction errors in the worry of being sick

ConclusionThe current findings suggest that the emotional component of sickness behavior is, at least partly, shaped by top-down expectations. Helping patients having a realistic expectation of symptoms during treatment of an illness may thus reduce aggravated emotional responses, and ultimately improve patients’ quality of life and treatment compliance.Registration“Endotoxin-induced Inflammatory and Behavioral Responses and Predictors of Individual Differences”, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02529592, registration number: NCT02529592.

Source: Brain, Behavior, and Immunity - September 12, 2018 Category: Neurology Source Type: research