Behavioral Aspects of Pain

Question 1

What are the two main pathways in acute pain?

Answer 1

Sensory/Discriminative pain- spinothalamic

Affective/Motivational pain - several tracts in the anterolateral apine

Question 2

What is the role of the dorsal raphe nucleus?

Answer 2

modulation of pain

Ascending to thalamus

Descending to spinal cord

Question 3

What areas show greater activation in individuals with higher pain sensitivity?

Answer 3

Anterior Cingulate Cortex and prefrontal cortex - areas associated with the affective-motivational pathway

also somatosensory cortex

Question 4

What areas of the brain are active during the placebo affect?

Answer 4

Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

Orbitofrontal cortex

PAG

Question 5

What is stress-induced analgesia?

Answer 5

Extreme stress has an analgesic affect

Question 6

What is neuropathic pain?

Answer 6

Type of chronic pain

Doesn’t typically respond well to NSAIDs or opiates

Often better managed with anticonvulsants and antidepressants

Question 7

How does gray matter loss affect pain?

Answer 7

Chronic pain can caused increased gray matter loss

May represent a decrease in capacity for top-down regulation of pain

Question 8

What type of antidepressant medications have shown to be effective at reducing chronic pain?

Answer 8

Medications that affect both serotonin and norepinephrine