This study investigates the relationships between two measures of suggestibility and those of clinical improvement in a group of newly admitted schizophrenic patients who were receiving chemotherapy.2 The rationale for associating clinical improvement in patients receiving chemotherapy with tests of suggestibility arises from the association between the placebo reaction and suggestibility made on a priori grounds by Tibbetts and Hawkins('), and Trouton@). Experimental evidence relevant to this association is restricted t o one study ( 4 ) with negative results, but the authors pointed out that the number of subjects was small.
If the placebo reaction can be related to the suggestibility of a patient in a treatment situation, it seems reasonable to suppose that even with drugs which are therapeutically effective, the suggestibility of a patient would be manifested in a form related to the success of the treatment. The response to an inert substance (the placebo reaction) then would represent only the extreme case conspicuous because the inertness of the agent is clearly recognized. Accordingly, the prediction is made that subjects receiving chemotherapy who score high on tests of suggestibility will show greater clinical improvement than will those scoring low on these tests. The assumption is made that responsiveness to treatment will be independent of the type of drug received.