Treatment outcome is strongly influenced by treatment expectations. Modifying expectations by targeting contextual factors can substantially improve therapy success, making them a valuable focus for therapeutic interventions. Elif Buse Caliskan, Ulrike Bingel and Angelika Kunkel highlight the neurobiological underpinnings of treatment expectations as well as strategies to modulate contextual factors to optimize treatment outcomes in daily clinical settings. Their article was published in Pain Reports and can be read here.