Der Schmerz
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Psychological methods for the treatment of chronic pain have been developed within the contextual framework of behavioral medicine during the past few years. Some of these self-control approaches focus on the patient's capacity to cope actively with pain. Standardized self-control training for outpatient group treatment for patients with chronic pain is described. ⋯ Thirty-three patients with chronic back pain were assigned either to one of four treatment groups (n=22) or to a waiting list control group (n=11). After 12 sessions of group treatment, patients showed significant improvement regarding daily ratings of pain intensity and mood and a significant decrease in depression and general physical complaints other than pain; the waiting list patients remained the same. Results showed good maintenance at the half-year follow-up.
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Conventional clinical dosages of local anesthetics may not be sufficient to block conduction of all afferent impulses, which is important for an effective epidural sensory blockade. Further depression of the transmission of information can be accomplished by central modulating mechanisms, preventing sensory perception. Since there are interindividual differences in the quality of modulating mechanisms, standardized depression of impulse propagation by the local anesthetic is associated with a wide variation in the total depression of afferent impulses. ⋯ Patients with a low pain threshold require a more highly concentrated local anesthetic. The addition of opioids to the local anesthetic will permit the use of lower concentrations of the local anesthetic itself. Optimal use of diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic epidural blockades is possible only if the influence of modulating mechanisms is taken into account.
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Although pain is part of our everyday life, to date there has been no generally accepted definition of pain. In this article is presented on a survey the various attempts to define pain. ⋯ Using a component model, it is demonstrated that scientific investigation of pain can only grasp single aspects. Therefore, the nature of the subject implies that interdisciplinary cooperation is necessary.