New study Trusting the doctor reduces pain in the patient

Study shows: less pain at the doctor of trust
Researchers have good news for people who are reluctant to go to the doctor for physical conditions: their research shows that patients feel less pain in medics they trust.

Many shy away from a doctor's visit
A doctor's visit can usually provide information about whether there is a serious illness behind acute complaints that needs to be treated. Nevertheless, some people shy away from going to the doctor. Also, many men are often very afraid of the doctor, because they are afraid of the diagnosis, as a study from the US showed. It could possibly help if they find a doctor whom they trust.

Researchers found in an investigation that patients who trust their attending physician feel less pain. (Image: Monkey Business / fotolia.com)

Factors that influence the pain
Not only the wound or disease itself has an effect on how much pain is felt, but also whether one trusts the attending physician. That's what US scientists from the universities of Miami and Colorado found out.

The experts said they wanted to see if it was true that patients who share basic beliefs and values ​​with their attending physician feel less pain than patients who do not.

Also, the perception of the doctor-patient relationship and the trust were included in the study to see "whether these interpersonal factors have affected the pain," the researchers report in the journal "Journal of Pain".

Reduce pain in medical care
The subjects first had to provide information on their personal beliefs and values ​​on a questionnaire. Because of these answers, they were then divided into two groups.

Following this, various tests took place in which the subjects were given a slight amount of pain.

The scientists found that the pain was felt to be weaker if the patient trusted the doctor.

The researchers do not have a clear explanation for the phenomenon. However, they suspect that trust works like a social placebo effect: the expectation that one of the others can help pain-killing hormones is released.

Increasing "confidence in health care could help reduce the pain in medical care," the experts write. (Ad)