PSYCHOLOGICAL METHODS OF PAIN CONTROL
Basic Science and Clinical Perspectives
Donald D. Price and M. Catherine Bushnell (Eds)
IASP Press, 2004
308pp
ISBN 0-931092-52-3
RRP $US63.00.
The involvement of psychological factors in the perception of pain has been recognized since antiquity. Aristotle alluded to the concept that pain was a somatopsychic phenomenon when he described it as a ‘passion of the soul’. This book review our rapidly increasing understanding of the psychoneurophysiological mechanisms involved in pain modulation and their potential use in clinical therapy.
The first section addresses how general factors modulate pain, including personality and demographic, environmental and psychological factors. The second section deals with specific psychological factors that modulate pain such as attention and emotions, and environmental and behavioural factors. The next section is about placebo analgesia, which makes most interesting reading. As our knowledge of the psychoneurophysiological mechanisms increases, I was left wondering whether placebo analgesics might become part of standard therapy in certain defined situations and be accepted as ethically correct. The last section details what we know about the psychoneurophysiological mechanisms and clinical applications of hypnotic analgesia.
This is an up to date review of both the basic science of the psychoneurophysiological mechanisms involved in the modulation of pain and their present and possible future applications in the clinic, and should be of interest to both researchers and clinicians.
Roger Woodruff
Director of Palliative Care, Austin Health, Melbourne Australia
(May 2005)
Author Information
Donald D. Price is Professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Neuroscience at the McKnight Brain Institute at the University of Florida , Gainesville , Florida , USA
M. Catherine Bushnell is Professor of Anesthesia and Director of the McGill Centre for Research on Pain, McGill University , Montreal , Quebec , Canada
Table of Contents
Part I: General Mechanisms of Pain Modulation
1. Overview of Pain Dimensions and Their Psychological Modulation.
Donald D. Price and M. Catherine Bushnell
2. Psychological and Demographic Factors that Modulate the Different Stages and Dimensions of Pain
Joseph L. Riley III and James B. Wade
3. Preclinical Studies of Pain Modulation: Lessons Learned from Animals
Barton H. Manning
4. Strategies to Decrease Pain and Minimize Disability
Patricia A. McGrath and Lauren A. Dade
Part II: Modulation of Pain by Attention, Cognitive Factors, and Emotions
5. Psychophysical and Neurophysiological Studies of Pain Modulation by Attention
M. Catherine Bushnell, Chantal Villemure, and Gary H. Duncan
6. Pain and Emotions.
Pierre Rainville
7. Environmental and Learning Factors in the Development of Chronic Pain and Disability
Steven J. Linton
Part III: Modulation of Pain by Placebos
8. Neural Mechanisms of Placebo-Induced Analgesia.
Antonella Pollo and Fabrizio Benedetti
9. The Placebo in Clinical Studies and in Medical Practice.
Luana Colloca and Fabrizio Benedetti
10. The Contribution of Changes in Expected Pain Levels and Desire for Pain Relief to Placebo Analgesia.
Lene Vase, Donald D. Price, G. Nicholas Verne, and Michael E. Robinson
Part IV: Modulation of Pain by Hypnosis
11. The Neurophenomenology of Hypnosis and Hypnotic Analgesia.
Pierre Rainville and Donald D. Price
12. Hypnotic Analgesia: Mechanisms of Action and Clinical Applications.
Joseph Barber
Index
