Pain And Perception Research Paper

The psychological processes in the article include pain perception, and how we as humans perceive pain, how we react to it, and how we adapt to it. The article explains the pain signaling process and how pain can be amplified. For example, when we get pricked by a needle, a signal from our finger ascends through the spinal cord to reach parts of the brain. From there, we perceive pain, then we form a pain experience. Pain perception can be resulting from several factors such as the frequency of pain input, how sensitive the CNS is, How the body reacts after brain perceives and tries to send information to the injured area. A pain experience is when we have the urge to put a band aid on our injury, or be scared to get pricked from a needle again. However, each pain experience differs from one culture to the other, moreover, one person to the other. The article is conducting a research paper about pain and pain perception in different ethnic groups.

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.

There have been investigations into phantom limb pain and Jensen found that about seventy two percent of reported feeling pain eight days after they had an amputation, not only that but he also found that six months after the amputation sixty eight percent of amputees reported pain that never went away in relation to their amputated body part (Katz). There are many theories as to why people who have had to have procedures to amputate a body part in order to relive them from the pain still experience that same pain they did before the body part was amputated. Two reasons that have been discussed as to why these people still feel pain are due to central factor and peripheral

For my final paper topic, I have chosen to discuss phantom limb pain. I was inspired to write about phantom limb pain after a recent visit to the Veterans Affairs hospital. I will be explaining the physiological aspects, including involvements of nerves, spinal cord, and the brain, as well as the psychological aspects, including grief, stress, depression and anxiety of phantom limb pain. According to Goldstein (2010), phantom limb pain is a phenomenon that a person whose limb has been amputated continues to experience the sensation of the limb (p.344). Along with the sensation of the amputated limb, patients can also experience pain, tingling, numbness, and temperature changes. People who were born without a limb can also experience phantom

The proper way to ensure that this is not a constant problem is to make sure that initial pain assessments as well as re-assessments are done in a timely manner. It seems as though the initial pain assessment was completed using the pain scale but the re-assessment was not complete and documented in the proper amount of time. In order to ensure proper documentation of the re-assessment once the first pain assessment has been completed and an intervention has properly been administered, the first action step will be to make sure that the reassessment is complete within one hour of pain intervention. With electronic mars it is easy to build in a recheck into the system to alert the nurse that a reassessment is needed once the pain medication has been administered to the patient. When a pain intervention is done, a flag will come up to remind the nurse taking care of the patient that a reassessment is due. This will also resolve the issue on the tracer audit of how does the nurse know the intervention worked. Another issue on the audit was if no pain intervention was done what was the reason for it not being done.

3. Sensation- Tells us where it hurts. The pain receptors send signals to the brain saying “stop that- it hurts”. Remember when you were a child and you touched the hot burner on the stove? Your skin told you it was too hot and your autonomic reaction was to pull your hand away quickly.

This "wiring" between the cerebral cortex and the rest of the body has been the focus of research on phantom limb pain. From this research, several theories have emerged.

An ideal pain measurement, therefore, consists of following qualities: (1) it has reasonably high validity and reproducibility; (2) it permits meaningful comparison of the magnitude of changes; (3) it is applicable in both experimental and clinical settings; (4) it has a good correlation with physiological measures in both both experimental and clinical settings, and (5) that it is easy to deploy in both experimental and clinical

Nociceptive pain is the pain experienced when the body is damaged by temperature, chemical, or mechanical means. When damage is caused, afferent neurons respond and the four phases of nociception result. Transduction occurs when the free ends of silent nociceptors convert toxic experience into an electrical current, leading to a nerve impulse. The nerve impulse is then transmitted to the dorsal root ganglion in the spinal cord, then the dorsal horn at the base of the brain and on to the brain, where it is recognised as pain. The perception of pain occurs when the electrical impulse leads to release of neurotransmitters from the nociceptor endings in the brain. It is further processed into a more specific sensation such as sharp, dull, aching

Phantom limb is a condition that causes amputees to feel the presence of a missing limb. In addition to feeling pain, sensations of tingling and cramping can also be felt by individuals that have had a limb amputated. This condition develops due to the deprivation of sensory input corresponding to a certain region of the brain linked with the amputated limb, which causes the brain to misinterpret signals from other body parts. There is a map of the entire surface of the body along a vertical strip of cortex in the brain, therefore, every point of the body surface has a point on this body map. Once a limb is amputated, the part of the brain corresponding to the limb lacks sensory input. Sensory signals from other parts of the body

Since infancy and up until death, most people experience some type of pain in their life. Pain is the body’s way of letting a person know that they have just encountered something harmful and possibly life-threatening.1 It is used as a defense mechanism to warn a person to cease activity, fight and/or run from the threat, and possibly seek help.1 (Modalities) Chad Starkey quotes the International Association for the Study of Pain when defining pain as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage.”1 Psychological and emotional factors can help to influence this actual or perceived experience. While it is useful in defending the body from potential or further harm, pain can continue to be present even when trauma

Mr. Anderson continues to report subjective pain levels that reach an 8 now instead of the over 10 he did have. The decrease in his pain level was with spinal cord stimulator and with the slight decrease of pain medications. He continues to treat for a nonrelated cervical issue and now has added knee pain. He has had 2 prior knee replacements. Mr. Anderson has stopped mentioning a return o work. Dr. Shah has placed him at MMI from a surgical standpoint. He will now solely treat with the pain clinic. Dr. Rampersaud is now planning on changing the pain medication to Nucynta. I have concerns about the medication in regards to Mr. Anderson’s Barrett Disease, and how accurately the medication is monitored and also if there is still a plan to

“Medications, brain surgery, problems in the brain, confusion, and nerve damage from trauma or chronic diseases such as diabetes can change the interpretation of pain without changing awareness of the sensation. For example, persons may feel sensation, but it does not bother them” (Kopec, 2006)

Have you ever felt out of the ordinary? Like, you just can’t get someone to understand what you’re trying to tell them and when you do tell them, they think you are crazy? Have you ever heard the phrase “I Feel Your Pain” meaning to show empathy towards a loved one or just basically for respect? Have you ever felt pain from looking at someone? No I’m not talking about heartbreaks or fights. I am talking about pain from looking at others in pain. Or have you ever looked at something, could be food or any object and simply just get that taste lingering at the back of your throat, as if you actually ate it?

understanding what pain is, how it originates and why we feel it are the Specificity