Comparing A Brief Self As Context Exercise Control Based And Attention Placebo Protocols For Coping With Induced Pain

In this article, The Sting Of Intentional Pain by Kurt Gray and Daniel M. Wegner they offer an inside account of how intentional pain actually causes more pain than unintentional pain. These authors prove this through an experiment where forty three people came together, and were met with a study partner called a “confederate”. These individuals were then moved to individual rooms where they would be administered simple psychophysical test but primarily a discomfort assessment.

To most people, pain is a nuisance, but to others pain controls their life. The feeling discomforts us in ways that can sometimes seem almost imaginable. These feelings can lead to many different side effects if not dealt with or diagnosed. These effects can include depression, anxiety, and incredible amount of stress. The truth about pain is that it is vital to our existence. Without the nervous system responding to pain, we would have no idea if we were touching a hot stove, being stuck by a porcupine’s needles, or something else that could leave a lasting effect upon our bodies without us even knowing anything about it.

Pain perception can be less than might be expected from the extent of a physical injury. This was proven by a scientist called Susana Bantick, Oxford University, and colleagues who carried out a study on the influence of attention distracting pain processing (Bantick et al, 2002). During the experiment, brain processing was measured by measuring brain activity using fMRI. Participants rated pain from 1-10 when noxious heat stimulus was applied to their hand in the scanner. She then followed the same process but gave them a task which required cognitive processing; reducing the amount of focused attention on pain. Bantick, therefore, showed attention distraction can reduce the amount of pain perceived by the individual, also pain processing to the brain was reduced. This provides vital evidence that pain perception does not just depend on the injury alone.

Sadly, for some patients chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP) can feel like a life sentence. All to often in clinical settings we see patients who psychologically combine chronic pain with resistance, the outcome often being suffering, this suffering, however, is a choice. Whilst there are behavioural and psychological components involved, recent research has looked into various patient-led forms of self-help or management of pain, one such method being mindfulness. Although limited, the current evidence in this field suggests that there is a place for such interventions for the acceptance or management of pain in chronic musculoskeletal conditions. Further research may wish to look at the quality of research into this area including a superior level of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) to test pain acceptance specific mindfulness interventions in matched subjects.

The illness schema, comprised of the affective and behavior consequences of the illness, has been shown to have an impact on goal achievement and quality of life (Covic et al., 2004). The self-schema, including self-relevant descriptions and episodes of behaviors, is related to self-esteem. The self-schema also ensures that self-relevant information is processed first (Pincus & Morley, 2001). The SEMP model argues that the pain schema is enmeshed with the illness and the self schema when pain experience is continual and remitting. Because pain sensations are self-relevant for chronic pain patients, prioritized processing of pain information produces congruent cognitive biases. In certain cases, preference is also given to generally negative information in processing (Pincus & Morley, 2001).

1590). A growing body of evidence suggests hypersensitivity of the nervous system and peripheral fibers as a possible cause. Learning efficient ways to help patients desensitize to central pain stimuli may help provide relief. In the Steiner, Bigatti, and Ang (2015) study, moderate levels of physical activity show improvements physical symptoms and physical function, and decrease the intensity of pain in groups with baseline relative inactivity. It will be important to discuss a physical activity strategy for the patient that stresses the amount of time the patient spends up and moving as compared to sedentary time. As shown in the study, pain reduction is considerably larger than those reductions from psychological and pharmaceutical intervention alone.

Social pain is experienced after an aversive social interaction, for example, rejection or exclusion. Psychological pain is experienced as emotions following the loss of reward. The focus of this study will be pain tolerance and threshold of physical pain, however, psychological and social pain are both relevant as they are both experienced in athletics and in victims of abuse.

Of the RCTs with significant data, the majority of interventions slowly increased the level of resistance as the intervention progressed (Andersen, et al., 2012; Caputo, Bari, & Orellana, 2017; Jay, et al., 2011). However, one intervention tested two groups against one other where one underwent progressive change and the other remained at a fixed level of resistance and despite finding a significant decrease in pain symptoms overall did not find a significant difference between the two groups (Li, et al., 2017). This suggests that it is not critical to increase difficulty during the intervention, to achieve relief from neck/shoulder pain. A few of the RCTs were also measuring increases in strength, wherein an increase in resistance may be necessary to continually build strength, but it is not necessary for pain relief. It may also potentially put individuals at risk of more

The role of exercise in pain perception has been widely researched over a number of years. Koltyn (2000) found that research had been taking place for more than twenty years. Previous studies have identified the significance of exercise in the treatment and rehabilitation for many patients with chronic pain (Naugle, Fillingham, & Riley, 2012). Hypoalgesia was found to occur following resistance and isometric exercise (Koltyn, 2000). However, it was suggested that further examination was required to develop an understanding of hypoalgesic responses following different modes of exercise (Koltyn, 2000). Further studies have provided evidence that healthy individuals demonstrated that sensitivity to painful stimuli is reduced with acute exercise

Hamza, Willoughby, and Armiento (2014) designed an experiment to test the hypothesis that self-punishment motivations for NSSI engagement are associated with increased pain threshold and tolerance. The participants used in this study were 82 fourth-year undergraduate students at a midsized Canadian university recruited from a larger ongoing project examining stress and coping among university students.

Background & Purpose : Research regarding chronic low back suggests that cognitive and behavioral factors are highly influential in the development of chronic pain and prolonged disability. The Fear Avoidance Model of Musculoskeletal Pain provides a cognitive and behavioral explanation for why and how a sub-group of acute low back pain sufferers develop a chronic pain problem. The model demonstrates that a patient’s cognitions and beliefs about their pain facilitates emotional responses of fear, anxiety and catastrophization and poor coping strategies of movement avoidance and diminished activity participation which contribute to poor outcomes. Motor control deficits and disuse syndrome are common impairments. Information patient’s obtain from medical professionals often influence these beliefs. Physical therapists need to assess for these maladaptive beliefs and integrate these factors into their clinical reasoning and provide effective interventions for such. In addition to an active treatment

McDonald (2014) wrote the article Trialing to Pain Control: A Grounded Theory to discuss a study that looks at the social psychological process of managing ineffectively relieved pain in adults. The author recognizes that pain is a significant problem in health care affecting millions of American adults. The study showed the basic problem clients were facing was a perception of running out of options for treatment. The purpose of this study was to assess adults’ social psychological process relating to inappropriately managed pain.

Chronic pain is a major medical and social issue that affects millions of people, their families, the workforce and society in general. Although definitions may vary, it is generally accepted that chronic pain originates in actual or potential tissue damage and lasts longer than six months after the initial damage has healed. The Gateway Control of Pain Theory best explains the pathophysiology of pain and which also explains why thought out emotions influences pain perception. Central Sensitization theorizes that the memory effect of repeated pain sensation maybe source of chronic pain. Because chronic pain has an physical and emotional element the treatment of it requires a holistic approach. The Concept Theory of Nursing explains how nursing

Beginning with the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn and the practice of mindfulness-based-stress-reduction (MBSR), which explored the use of mindfulness meditation in treating patients with chronic pain (Keng, Smoski, & Robins, 2011), a growing body of research concerning the cognitive-behavioural tradition emerged. Within this tradition it was assumed that cognition plays a vital role in determining behaviour (Huss & Baer, 2007), therefore, by drawing on the two components of mindfulness put forth by Bishop et al (2004), clinicians established that the development of mindfulness skills, such as focussed breathing (which cultivates the state of mindfulness), can lead to; increased self-awareness and self-acceptance; reduced reactivity to thoughts and emotions; and improved ability to cope with problematic situations (Linehan, 1993). In addition to this, research revealed that those who undergo mindfulness training also experience improved ability to sustain attention in the present moment (Marks, 2008).

Self-discrepancy occurs when a person feels oneself failing to fulfill one’s hopes or responsibility. Although self-discrepancy has been widely examined by previous literature to elucidate patients’ adjustment to chronic pain, not much is understood concerning the process behind. The present study proposes that the effect of self-discrepancy on pain outcomes is mediated by psychological inflexibility, which is the preoccupation of psychological reactions to alter behaviors in the pursuit of goals and values. Fifty-six patients with chronic pain were recruited from a public hospital. They were invited to participate in a semi-structural interview on their self-discrepancy and complete self-report questionnaires regarding their psychological