Journal of behavioral medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Suppression of pain-related thoughts and feelings during pain-induction: sex differences in delayed pain responses.
Women tend to report greater acute and chronic pain intensity than men, and various mechanisms have been proposed to account for these sex differences. Suppression has been related to amplified pain intensity, and thus we examined whether sex differences in the use of suppression partly explained the discrepancy between men and women on pain report. Participants (N = 222; women: 55%) underwent a cold pressor, during which half the sample was randomly assigned to suppress pain-related thoughts and feelings and the other half was not. ⋯ Ten min later, all participants were exposed to another physical stimulus (a massage device). Significant condition x Sex interactions were found for pain intensity, sensory ratings from the McGill Pain Questionnaire and unpleasantness ratings for the massage device, such that: (a) men in the No Suppression condition reported lower pain and unpleasantness than women in the same condition; (b) men in Suppression condition reported greater pain and unpleasantness then men in No Suppression condition, but equivalent pain and unpleasantness to women in No Suppression condition; (c) differences between men and women on pain in No Suppression condition were partly mediated by women's report of greater spontaneous use of avoidance/suppression during the cold pressor. Results using an "addition" paradigm (i.e., manipulating use of suppression) and a "take away" (i.e., mediation) paradigm converge to suggest that women spontaneously use suppression to regulate pain more than men, and that the differential use of suppression partly explains the tendency for women to report greater pain intensity than men.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Hypoalgesia associated with elevated resting blood pressure: evidence for endogenous opioid involvement.
This study used a placebo-controlled, between-subjects opioid blockade design to evaluate endogenous opioid involvement in the hypoalgesia associated with elevated resting blood pressure (BP) in 163 healthy individuals. Participants were randomly assigned to Drug condition (placebo, naltrexone) and Task Order (computerized maze task with harassment followed by an ischemic pain task or vice versa). Resting BP was assessed, followed by drug administration, and then the pain and maze tasks. ⋯ A significant Gender x Drug x SBP x Task Order interaction was observed for VAS pain intensity (P < .02). Examination of simple effects comprising this interaction suggested that BP-related hypoalgesia occurred only in male participants who experienced the pain task in the absence of emotional arousal, and indicated that this hypoalgesia occurred under placebo but not under opioid-blockade. Results suggest that under some circumstance, BP-related hypoalgesia may have an endogenous opioid-mediated component in healthy individuals, particularly men.
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This article presents two experiments aiming to investigate the adoption of a graduated measure to describe credibility attribution by observers who evaluate patients' pain accounts. A total of 160 medical students were required to express a credibility judgment on the pain intensity level of hypothetical patients. ⋯ Results confirm the well-established tendency not to believe patients' self-reports and provide information regarding the evaluators' uncertainty. The findings suggest that a graduated measure is useful for assessing the degree of uncertainty of the observers and subtle effects of different factors upon the judgment of patient's pain.
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Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and unexplained chronic fatigue (CF) are characterized by compromised functional status and physical disability. Prior research on chronic pain has suggested that social factors may contribute to disability. This study examined the relationship between significant other responses and patient outcomes in patients with unexplained CF. ⋯ Negative responses to patient illness behavior by significant others were associated with higher levels of patient depressive symptoms. The findings provide support for the role of operant behavioral factors in the context of chronic fatigue. They also suggest that further research on the relationship between dysfunction and significant other responses in patients with CFS or CF appears warranted and may have implications for treatment development.
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While stimulus intensity obviously affects degree of pain responding, presentation order effects of stimuli of different intensities on acute pain responses are under-researched. The present study examined the effects of manipulating presentation order of lower and higher pain stimulus intensity. Using 96 undergraduates, this investigation employed a 2 x 2 mixed research design, with pain stimulus sequence as a between-subjects variable and pain stimulus trial as a repeated measure. ⋯ Also, performance of a cognitive task was interrupted the least when the lower stimulus intensity was presented last. Heart rate, however, was highest when the greater stimulus intensity was presented first, and pain tolerance was greatest when the lower stimulus intensity was presented first. Results are discussed in relation to adaptation-level effects, and implications for pain experienced in clinical settings are suggested.