Comments on: The Psychology of Pain: "I didn’t mean it!"

By: Raj

Raj — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 02:43:46 +0000

I just got your book and am reading through the first chapter. You mention there that if a nurse pulled off bandages slowly over a longer period of time, it hurts less than if the bandages were pulled off faster.

I was wondering if it would not be better to have multiple nurses all pulling off bandages slowly on different parts of the body ? Can the human brain concentrate on more than one sensory input at a time ?

While I have not been subjected to large amounts of pain, I grew up walking barefoot and would often get thorns on my legs. One of the tricks my mom would do was to distract me while she pulled out the thorns. Once I got two thorns on my feet and my mother got someone else to help so that both thorns could be pulled out simultaneously – her reasoning being that a child could only concentrate on one pain at a time so pulling two thorns out would hurt about the same as pulling one out.In my experience, she was right. No idea if it generalizes.

By: sean

sean — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:14:53 +0000

I find the intentionality here interest. As in when someone feels they are the “victim” of an intentional choice, they experience greater pain than if they are simply the victim of a random occurrence. I suppose I find the effect of the intentionality of others on our own feelings as the most interesting here.

I wonder if works in reverse? Am I extra happy if I get a free cookie that someone specifically chose to give me than I am if I randomly receive a free cookie? I suspect so, it’s the aspect of feeling special.

By: Susan R.

Susan R. — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 16:25:53 +0000

It isn’t just the psychology of pain that is relevant here, but also the physiology of pain. While I am not in the medical field, I would love to read comments from those who are.

Anecdotally, I’ve been told that if you are aware that you are going to be involved in an accident you are more likely to suffer an injury and more likely to suffer a severe injury. Whereas if the accident takes you completely unawares, you are more likely to walk away with minimal damages. How many stories are there of intoxicated or sleepy drivers who are thrown from their vehicles and walk away with minor cuts and bruises while others in similar crashes are severely injured or even killed?

Pain will trigger a physiological stress response. Anticipation of pain will also trigger a stress response. Is this, perhaps, what your study participants are experiencing? I wonder how much this influences the reactions of the study participants? Is anticpation of pain amplifying the perceived response? Perhaps the anticipation of pain is amplifying the physiological response?

This is not to discount the irrationality of the reactions, but perhaps there are physiological reasons that contribute significantly to the “irrational” response.

If there are physiological reasons that support the “irrational” response in this case. Are there additional physiological elements at the root of many other behavioral irrationalities?