Final Exam Review Flashcards
Pain
an unpleasant sensory & emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissues damage, or described in terms of such damage
Severe & prolonged pain can impair:
General functioning
Ability to work
Social relationships
Emotional adjustment
Social & Economic effects
Headache, back and joint pain are common causes of work absence and disability in North America, costs $$$$ in loot productivity, treatment and disability payments
Organic Pain
Clearly linked to tissue pressure or damage
Psychogenic Pain
Pain with no tissue damage, could result from psychological processes
Neuropathic Pain
results from current or past disease or damage in peripheral nerves
Pain as a continuum
Both physiological and psychosocial factors play a role in pain - involves organic and psychogenic causes
Acute Pain
temporary painful conditions that last less than 3 months - higher than normal levels of anxiety while the pain exists but distress subsides as pain decreases
Chronic-recurrent pain
From benign causes & involves repeated and intense episode of pain separated by periods w/o pain
Chronic-intractable-benign pain
Typically present all the time, varying levels of intensity, not related to underlying condition
Chronic-progressive pain
Continuous discomfort associated with malignant condition, becomes more intense as condition worsens
Nociception
Process by which info about actual tissue damage or potential for damage is relayed to brain
Neural encoding - pain is subjective experience (not the same)
Referred Pain
Pain perceived at a location other than the site of the painful stimulus/origin - result of a network interconnection sensory nerves
Phantom limb pain
Although the limb is gone, the nerve endings at the site of the amputation continue to send pain signals to the brain that make the brain think the limb is still there
The role of pain
alert the body to potential damage; through nocicpetion, the neural processing of harmful stimuli
Gate-control theory of pain
Conditions that open the gate:
- Physical cognitions (extent of injury)
- Emotional conditions (anxiety, depression)
- Mental conditions (focusing on pain, boredom)
Conditions that close the gate:
- Physical (medication)
- Emotional (positive, rest)
- Mental (distraction, concentration)
Rene Descartes - Pain
The intensity of the message is directly proportionate to the severity of the injury - inaccurate
Perceiving Pain
Body sense pain in response to noxious stimuli - physical pressure, lacerations, heat or cold
Includes emotional component
Interplay of physiological and psychological processes
Meaning of Pain
Some believe individuals come to like pain through classical conditioning - by participating or viewing activities that associate pain with pleasure
Most people are conditioned to fear pain
Neurochemical transmission & inhibition of pain
Stimulation-produced analgesia
Endogenous opioids
Personal & Social Experiences - Pain
Learning & pain
Pain Behaviours
Pain Behaviours
- Facial or audible distress
- Distorted ambulation or posture
- negative affect
- Avoidance
Social Experiences & Pain
- Social communication model of pain
- Communal coping model of pain catastrophizing
- Gender & socio-cultural factors
Emotions, coping and pain
- Emotions and pain
- Stress and pain
- Coping with pain
Canada Health Act
Canadian act, provinces determine own policies, extended health care
Perceiving & Interpreting Symptoms
Perception of symptoms vary across people & differentiations within the same person across the time
- Individual differences
- Competing environmental stimuli
- Psychosocial influences (pshycogenic illness)
- Gender & sociocultural differences
Individual Differences
-Having more symptoms
-Differing in experience of same symptom: almost all people have a uniform threshold for pain but differentiations in their tolerance fo pain (some notices changes more quickly)
Internally focused people tend to overestimate changed and perceive recovery as slower
Completing Environmental Stimuli
Environments that contain a lot of sensory info or which are exciting are negatively related to symptom reporting
Boredom increases symptoms reporting
Psychosocial Influences
Expectations influence symptom perception
Interaction of cognitive, social and emotional factors
Mass psychogenic illness: may involves a range of neurological symptoms, from movement disorder to blindness but no physical explanations
Gender Differences in Pain
Women report lower discomfort at lower stimulus intensities and request termination of painful stimuli sooner than men
Cultural Differences in Pain
Different cultures reinforce symptom experiences and symptom reporting behaviour
Asians report more physical symptoms w psychological bases
America pain patients report more impairment
African American heart arrack patent symptoms are less typical and delay getting treatment longer
Interpreting Symptoms
Prior experience with an illness may increase or decrease accuracy or interpretation
Common Sense Models
Cognitive representations of illness developed through direct experience or from available info about illness
Lay referral network
before many people seek medical attention they seek advice from friends, relatives or coworkers
Why people use/don’t use health services
Social & emotional factors
- emotional states: embarrassment, anxiety
- seeking help seen as sign of weakness