Pain

Question 1

What is pain?

Answer 1

An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage

Question 2

What are the different aspects of pain?

Answer 2

\+ Socio-cultural influences
\+ Subjective perception
\+ Psychological influences
\+ Genetic predisposition
\+ Drug-use patterns
\+ Biological element

Question 3

What are the features of acute pain?

Answer 3

+ Intense, but time limited
+ Result of tisue damage or disease
+ Typically disappears over time as injury heals
+ Lasts < 6 months
+ Sufferers highly motivated to seek out its causes & treat it
+ Effectively treated by a number of pain-control techniques

Question 4

What are features of chronic pain?

Answer 4

+ Often begins as acute pain
+ Does not dissipate after a min. 6 months (e.g lower-back pain, headache, pain associated with arthritis, cancer)
+ High anxiety, feelings of hopelessness, helplessness; due to a lack of medical treatment success
+ Interferes with daily life
+ 3 sub-categories

Question 5

What are the 3 sub-categories of pain?

Answer 5

+ Recurrent acute
+ Intractable benign
+ Progressive

Question 6

What are features of recurrent acute pain?

Answer 6

+ Caused by benign or harmless condition

+ Repeated, intense episodes separated by perood without pain

Question 7

What are features of intractable-benign pain?

Answer 7

+ Benign but persistent pain

+ Varying levels of intensity, but never disappears

Question 8

What are features of progressive pain?

Answer 8

+ Pain often originates from a malignant condition
+ Continuing pain, and discomfort
+ Pain worsens over time, as underlying condition worsens

Question 9

What are the 3 theories of pain?

Answer 9

+ Specificity theory
+ Pattern theory
+ The Gate Control theory

Question 10

What does Specificity theory propose?

Answer 10

+ No separate system for percieving pain

+ Pain results from the pattern or type of stimulation received by the nerve endings

+ Intensity of the stimulation is key determination of pain

+ Strong and mild stimuli of the same sense modality produce different patterns of neural activity

Question 11

What does Pattern theory propose?

Answer 11

+ No separate system for percieving pain

+ Pain results from the pattern or type of stimulation received by the nerve endings

+ Intensity of the stimulation is key determination of pain

+ Strong and mild stimuli of the same sense modality produce different patterns of neural activity

Question 12

What are limitations regarding Specificity & Pattery theories?

Answer 12

ST: incorrect - no specific receptor cells in body that transmit ONLY information about pain

PT: requires that stimuli triggering pain MUST be intense

+ Pain can be experienced without tissue damage (e.g phantom-limb pain)

+ Tissue damage can exist without pain (e.g athletes)

+ Both fail to account for the important role of psychology in the perception of pain

Question 13

What does Gate Control Theory propose?

Answer 13

+ Nerve endings in damages area transmit impulses to the spinal cord

+ A ‘gate’ exists in the spinal cord (‘nerual gate’)

• OPEN to let pain signal through
• CLOSE to reduce the pain experience

+ Gating mechansim modulates incoming pain sugnals befire they reach the brain

+ Invludes the role of psychological factors in the experiences of pain

Question 14

What is Gate Control influenced by?

Answer 14

1. Amount of actvity in pain fibres (A-delta & C):
   - more activity > gate opens > more pain
   - A-delta: pricking/ stabbing (fast impulse transmission)
   - C: burning/ aching (slow impulse transmission)
2. Amount of activity in other peripheral fibres (A-beta)
   - harmless stimuli or mild irritation (touching, rubbing)
   - closes the gate > less pain
3. Messages descending from the brain - effects of anxiety, excitement etc. open/close the gate

Question 15

What are features of The Gate Control Theory?

Answer 15

+ Includes psychological AND physiological factors

+ Explains why the same event can be interpreted by different people as more or less painful

+ Explains why sometimes pain is not experienced immediately

+ Describes the indicidual as having some control over the experiences of pain

Question 16

How is pain measured/assessed?

Answer 16

Use two or more techniques:

1. Physiological
2. Self-report
3. Behavioural

Question 17

What are the limitations of the physiological techniques used to measure/assess pain?

Answer 17

Relationship between physiological responses and experience of pain NOT CONSISTENT

Question 18

What are the limitations of the self-report techniques used to measure/assess pain?

Answer 18

+ Often requires advanced verbal skills

+ Less useful for children/people not fluent in english

+ Misrepresentation via exaggeration or downplay pain experience

Question 19

What are the psychological factors that influence the experience of pain?

Answer 19

+ Learning
+ Cognition
+ Personality
+ Stress

Question 20

What are physical strategies/methods for pain management?

Answer 20

+ Medical treatments (analgesic drugs)

+ Surgical

+ Physical stimulation therapies

+ Physical therapy/exercise

Question 21

What are psychological strategies/methods for pain management

Answer 21

+ Biofeedback

+ Relaxation and distraction

+ Cognitive methods

+ Behaviour therapy (operant approach)

+ Hypnosis