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Positive thinking a pain reliever
Positive thinking a pain reliever -- Posted by Roman Bystrianyk on 09-05-05 17:18
"Positive thinking a pain reliever", BBC News, September 5, 2005,
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4215078.stm
US experts say they have strong scientific proof that mind over matter
works for relieving pain.
Positive thinking was as powerful as a shot of morphine for relieving
pain and reduced activity in parts of the brain that process pain
information.
The Wake Forest University researchers say their findings show that by
merely expecting pain to be less it will be less.
Their work is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences.
Positive thinking
Dr Robert Coghill and his team studied 10 normal, healthy volunteers
who had a heat simulator applied to their legs while their brains were
being scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
The heat simulator was used to produce pain and fMRI was used to map
brain activity.
Before subjects underwent brain imaging, they learned to expect mild,
moderate, or severe painful heat stimuli following different signals.
None of the stimuli were hot enough to cause burns or damage the skin.
During brain imaging, a small percentage of the severe stimuli were
incorrectly signalled as moderate stimuli to create expectations of
decreased pain.
All 10 volunteers reported less pain when they expected lower levels of
pain.
These expectations reduced reports of pain by more than 28% - similar
to an analgesic dose of the potent painkiller morphine.
At the same time, activity in areas of the brain important to both
sensory and emotional processing of pain decreased. These areas
included the primary somatosensory cortex, the insular cortex and the
anterior cingulate cortex.
More than just pills
Dr Coghill explained: "Pain is not solely the result of signals coming
from an injured body region.
"Pain needs to be treated with more than just pills. The brain can
powerfully shape pain, and we need to exploit its power."
He said the findings underscored the potential of cognitive therapy for
the treatment of pain.
Dr Ed Keogh, a psychologist and pain researcher from the University of
Bath, said: "For some time now we have known that psychological factors
such as expectations play a role in the perception and experience of
pain.
"This work is intriguing as it aims to identify specific brain regions
linked to both the pain experience and expectations associated with
pain.
"By empirically demonstrating such links, such research adds weight to
the notion that how we think can effect what we feel. This is turn may
have important implications for the way in which we prepare people for
potentially painful events such as going to the dentist, childbirth or
an operation."
Dr Beverly Collette, president of the British Pain Society, said: "Most
people who work in pain clinics use cognitive therapy to help people
manage their pain better.
"This study goes some way to explaining the positive impact of these
psychological techniques in chronic pain states."
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