Pain acts like a flash on the emotional world

Pain affects the emotional world after just minutes

03/16/2015

According to a new study, physical pain affects the psyche in minutes. The new findings could help in the future to improve therapies for pain patients.

Physical pain quickly affects the psyche
Physical pain, according to a new study, has a psychological effect in minutes. After such a short time, stimuli in emotional areas of the brain were measurable. This resulted in an investigation at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), as the news agency dpa reports. The neurologist Markus Ploner from the TUM-Klinikum rechts der Isar explained: „The result has amazed us very much. The pain has over the ten minutes only very little to do with what is happening objectively.“ And vice versa, the psyche measurably influences the sensation of pain. The researchers confirmed in another trial that the dummy drug placebo has a soothing effect.

New approaches to diagnosis and treatment
As scientists say, the findings could provide new approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of chronic pain. „If pain has so many influencing factors, it can also be influenced in many ways.“ A total of 41 subjects got in one in the journal „Cerebral cortex“ published study heat stimuli on the hand that varied over ten minutes in their strength. The participants constantly assessed the pain intensity on a scale. Ploner explained the result: „For a few minutes, the participants' subjective perception of pain changed - for example, they experienced changes in pain when the objective stimulus remained unchanged.“ The expert continued: „The sensation of pain thus resolved within a few minutes of the objective stimulus.“

Emotional brain areas active
Ploner also explained that previous studies had investigated pain stimuli for just seconds. According to the information, brain areas are active that process the signals of the sensory organs and the skin. But EEG showed a different picture in this first experiment with minutes of pain: Emotional brain areas were also active. „If a pain persists for a long time, it obviously changes from a pure process of perception to a more emotional process.“ But if the perception changes so soon after such a short time, the question arises again, what happens in the brain over years in the chronic illness course. „This is methodologically difficult to investigate.“ But: „Our results indicate that the longer the pain, the more emotions you develop.“

Close connection of pain and psyche
One in the journal „Pain“ published result of the Munich scientists also points to the close connection of physical pain and psyche. In this study, 20 volunteers received different levels of laser pulses on two areas of the back of their hands and evaluated the pain. Afterwards, they received the same stimuli again. Previously, however, the backs of the hands were treated with creams, one of which allegedly relieved the pain. Although this drug was drug-free, but still rated the participants the pain here weaker.
When patients do not respond even to strong medications
The placebo effect was also visible in the brain. The nerve cells fired a different pattern of signals despite the same pain stimuli. Ploner said that this could also help explain that pain patients often do not even respond to strong medications. „They have the negative expectation that nothing will help me - that's the way they experience it.“ Something similar was reported last month to doctors from the Wagner-Jauregg hospital in Linz, Austria. They pointed out that in many patients, even if they receive opioid painkillers, no significant pain reduction can be brought about. (Ad)