Speech can activate the memory of pain

Talking about pain can already lead to the sensation of pain. In a study of the University Clinic Jena it could now be shown for the first time that not only painful experiences and associations alarm our pain memory.

Many know the pain sensation before the actual pain. When the doctor gives the injection "Attention now it pisses", many patients already feel a pain in advance. A study from Jena now confirms what many had already anticipated. Talking about pain alone activates pain memory in the brain. Because the brain prepares itself for the pain and activates the pain memory.

But what many find disturbing has its biological meaning. By having pain memory in people, memories of pain can prevent us from getting into similar painful situations. So every child has already touched a hot hotplate or iron and suffered severe pain. After this experience you will want to avoid this painful experience as a child and later as an adult. One remembers, so to speak, the pain and automatically avoids such situations that can be dangerous for the body.

But it is not just such painful experiences that can activate our pain memory in the brain. According to the study results of the University Clinic Jena, verbal utterances can lead to avoidance tactics. "Verbal stimuli also activate the corresponding brain regions," says psychologist Prof. dr. Thomas Weiß from the University Hospital Jena. This is how you internally prepare yourself for the pain before it actually happens. So far, these findings have been underestimated, but the study results show very clearly that talking about pain can already trigger a pain sensation.

The study provides a simple but effective clue: to prevent the pain from potentiating the next time, it's enough to talk less about pain. (sb, 06.04.2010)

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