In Germany, around 70 percent of people suffer from either temporary or persistent headaches, and 20 percent suffer from migraines. Prof. Ulrike Bingel, head of the Center for Pain Medicine at Essen University Hospital, explains how treatment expectations can improve the effectiveness of headache therapies: “Every effective drug therapy is accompanied by the placebo effect. And this can have amazing consequences.”
Dr. Katharina Schmidt, working at the Department of Neurology at Essen University Hospital in project A01 of the CRC 289 „Treatment Expectation“, was able to show that positive expectations of migraine prophylaxis improved the response to therapy. Those who had previously had good experiences with treatments in particular experienced a significant reduction in symptoms.
Ibuprofen works better with the right information
In August 2025, another study confirmed that communication enhances the effect of ibuprofen, a group of low-dose, over-the-counter medications that people often use to treat headaches. Ibuprofen relieves pain, reduces fever, and inhibits inflammation. A working group led by psychologist Prof. Sven Benson, head of the Institute for Didactics in Medicine at Essen University Hospital and project lead in project A11, showed that the success of ibuprofen therapy can be improved by positive expectations. The study focused on symptoms typically experienced during a systemic inflammatory response, such as during an infection or after a vaccination. The ibuprofen was given to the participants with positive explanations of its beneficial effects. The result: the resulting positive treatment expectations had a positive influence on the effect of the anti-inflammatory drug.
“Our study results indicate that information provided by a physician, even about a widely used medication such as ibuprofen, can enhance the effectiveness of the medication,” Prof. Benson concludes.
“This shows that we urgently need to rethink drug therapies. After all, the effectiveness of a treatment depends not only on the active ingredient, but also on the patient's expectations. This represents a huge, but as of yet largely untapped potential for optimizing and personalizing medical treatments,” explains Prof. Ulrike Bingel, spokesperson for the CRC.
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