• D Loreto-Quijada, J Gutiérrez-Maldonado, O Gutiérrez-Martínez, and R Nieto.
• Department of Personality, Assessment, and Psychological Treatments, University of Barcelona, Spain. desi.loreto@gmail.com
• Eur J Pain. 2013 Oct 1;17(9):1403-10.

BackgroundThis study aimed (1) to assess the validity of a virtual reality (VR) intervention designed specifically to gain control over pain, (2) to test whether the association between the virtual environment and pain can be potentiated using a differential conditioning procedure, and (3) to examine the effects of this VR intervention in a cold pressor experiment.MethodsThe VR intervention was based on a figure representing pain. This figure could be manipulated until reaching a no-pain state. Participants were 64 undergraduate students, who were asked to evaluate this environment in terms of arousal and valence. A differential conditioning procedure was then applied, in which the pain figure was paired with electric shock and the no-pain figure was presented without shock. Afterwards, participants performed a cold pressor task.ResultsIn the initial testing, the pain figure was evaluated as more arousing and more unpleasant than the no-pain figure. After the conditioning procedure, these ratings significantly increased; with the pain figure being rated as more anxiety eliciting and a better predictor of shocks than the no-pain figure. During cold pressor, the interaction with the conditioned VR figure led to significant increases in pain threshold and tolerance, as well as a significantly greater underestimation of time, but it did not affect pain intensity.ConclusionsThese results provide preliminary support for the use of our VR intervention to gain control over pain.© 2013 European Federation of International Association for the Study of Pain Chapters.

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