Evaluation of a New Mobile Virtual Reality Setup to Alter Pain Perception: Pilot Development and Usability Study in Healthy Participants.

Background: Chronic pain presents a significant treatment challenge, often leading to frustration for both patients and therapists due to the limitations of traditional methods. Research has shown that synchronous visuo-tactile stimulation, as used in the rubber hand experiment, can induce a sense of ownership over a fake body part and reduces pain perception when ownership of the fake body part is reported. The effect of the rubber hand experiment can be extended to the full body, for example, during the full-body illusion, using both visuo-tactile and cardiovisual signals.

War experiences and relationship problems predict pain sensitivity cross-sectionally among patients with chronic primary pain.

Background: Most patients suffering from chronic pain are more susceptible to pain and pressure due to higher pain sensitivity. Since psychosocial factors play a central role in developing and maintaining chronic pain, investigating associations between pain sensitivity and psychosocial stressors promises to advance the biopsychosocial understanding of chronic pain.

Objectives: We aimed to replicate Studer et al.

Guilt is effectively induced by a written auto-biographical essay but not reduced by experimental pain.

Introduction: The aim of the present study was (1) to validate the method of guilt-induction by means of a written auto-biographical essay and (2) to test whether experimental pain is apt to alleviate the mental burden of guilt, a concept receiving support from both empirical research and clinical observation.

Methods: Three independent groups of healthy male participants were recruited. Group allocation was not randomized but within group pain/sham administration was counterbalanced over the two test-days.

The impact of chronic pain on creative ideation: An examination of the underlying attention-related psychophysiological mechanisms.

Background: Attentional deficits in patients with chronic pain are common and well studied. Yet, few studies have examined the effects of chronic pain on more complex cognitive abilities that rely on well-functioning attentional systems. With the current study, we aimed to investigate whether the impact of chronic pain on attention affects creative ideation as measured with an adaptation of the alternate uses task (AUT).

Negative Mood Regulation Expectancies (NMRE) as a Moderator of the Association Between Stress and Treatment Outcomes in Interdisciplinary Chronic Pain Treatment.

Objective: Negative mood regulation expectancies (NMRE) describe the expectancies of an individual regarding his or her ability to regulate or reduce negative mood states by certain cognitive or behavioral strategies. NMRE are closely associated with the actual emotion regulation and potentially buffer the negative psychological and physical health consequences of stress. In the context of chronic pain, stress plays a central role, as long-term stress can have additional negative consequences regarding pain and its progression.

The effect of chronic pain on voluntary and involuntary capture of attention: An event-related potential study.

Although the interrupting effect of chronic pain on voluntary-directed attention is well-documented, research on the impact of chronic pain on involuntary-directed attention remains incomplete. This study aimed to investigate the influence of chronic pain on involuntary as well as voluntary allocation of attention as, respectively, indexed by the P3a and P3b components in the event-related potential derived from the electroencephalogram. Both involuntary and voluntary captures of attention were compared between 33 patients with chronic pain and 33 healthy controls using an auditory three-stimulus oddball task (with standard, target, and unexpected distractor tones).

Being Trapped and Seeing No Way Out - Effects of Entrapment on Treatment Outcome in an Interdisciplinary Pain Treatment.

Background: Entrapment describes a feeling of being stuck in an inescapable aversive situation. This feeling often arises in the context of uncontrollable and/or chronic stress and is associated with various psychopathologies.

Objective: Owing to the nature of their disease, also chronic pain, patients might experience their situation as unremitting and inescapable.

[Functional pain syndromes - beyond nociception].

Functional pain disorders are frequent and represent a significant burden in primary care consultations. Scientific advances in neuroscience allow us to understand these syndromes from the perspective of perceptual, vegetative, affective and cognitive dysfunction. Simple tools can be useful in the history and clinical examination, looking specifically for positive signs in favor of a functional pain disorder.

[The Coupling of Pain, Anxiety, and Stress].

The Coupling of Pain, Anxiety, and Stress There is considerable neurobiological, clinical and epidemiological evidence that the systemic phenomena of anxiety and pain closely interact. Both perceptions trigger stress activation processes and are in turn modulated by long-term stress. This overview illustrates the coupling of pain, anxiety and stress with some clinical examples.

Altered central pain processing in fibromyalgia-A multimodal neuroimaging case-control study using arterial spin labelling.

Fibromyalgia is characterized by chronic pain and a striking discrepancy between objective signs of tissue damage and severity of pain. Function and structural alterations in brain areas involved in pain processing may explain this feature. Previous case-control studies in fibromyalgia focused on acute pain processing using experimentally-evoked pain paradigms.

[The sociolinguistic meaning of hand and nerves and their emotional expression].

The sociolinguistic meaning of hand and nerves and their emotional expression This article on the sociolinguistic occurrence of the hand and nerves in our everyday language reveals that the German language has a rich repertoire of metaphors and proverbs referring to fingers, hands, arms and nerves, expressing our feelings including pain. There are - on the one hand - not only plenty of expressions and phrases describing the physical purpose of the upper extremity, but - on the other hand - also countless metaphorical terms related to psychological, emotional or social contents. In contrast to medical terminology, everyday language does not hesitate to name the psychosocial dimension of things - High five!

Age and Gender as Factors of Pressure Sensitivity of Pain-Free Persons: Are They Meaningful?

Purpose: Prior findings suggest that women and elderly persons are more sensitive to pressure than men and younger persons; however, the magnitudes of these differences are substantially inconsistent. We answered the question whether the higher sensitivity of women and elderly persons is quantitatively meaningful. Specifically, we investigated if it is large enough to hamper the diagnosis, classification and follow-up of pain conditions by clinicians.

[Prevention of aversive childhood experiences: social and health policy consequences].

Prevention of aversive childhood experiences: social and health policy consequences Neglect, as well as physical, psychological or sexual abuse increase the risk of developmental disorders and of long-term health consequences in adulthood. The prevention of maltreatment is therefore crucial. In Switzerland, a multi-layered prevention model mainly focuses on supporting the family.

[Aversive childhood stress and its implications für expert reports using the example of chronic pain].

Aversive childhood stress and its implications für expert reports using the example of chronic pain Insurance-medical questions regarding the consequences of severe aversive childhood stress arise in the context of psychiatric and psychosomatic expert reports. In psychiatric expert reports, the insurance-medical weighting of disorders of thinking, feeling and behaviour is in the foreground. In psychosomatic expert reports the assessment of limited performance with regard to functional body symptoms are considered to be most important.

[Long-term consequences of aversive childhood experiences: effects on cerebral structures].

Long-term consequences of aversive childhood experiences: effects on cerebral structures Early childhood stress experiences due to neglect, and physical, psychological or sexual abuse can lead to permanent changes in central nervous structures. The central nervous system generally shows a very high plasticity in early childhood. Objectively, these influences are reflected in functional and structural-morphological changes in certain brain areas.

[Long-term consequences of aversive childhood experiences: effects on the incidence of psychiatric illnesses].

Long-term consequences of aversive childhood experiences: effects on the incidence of psychiatric illnesses Early childhood stress experiences through physical, psychological and sexual abuse as well as emotional or physical neglect often lead to permanent changes in the psychological well-being. Clinically, this is shown among other things in an increased incidence of various psychiatric disorders. This narrative survey aims to summarize the current status of existing studies on early childhood stress experiences and related psychiatric consequences.

[Long-term consequences of aversive childhood experiences: effects on pain processing].

Long-term consequences of aversive childhood experiences: effects on pain processing Childhood experiences of stress due to neglect, physical, psychological or sexual abuse often lead to lasting changes in pain processing. Clinically, this is shown, among other things, in an increased sensitivity to pain, a stronger negative-affective connotation of pain and ultimately an increased risk of pain disorders in adulthood. George L.

[Consequences of aversive childhood experiences: effects on the neuroendocrine system].

Consequences of aversive childhood experiences: effects on the neuroendocrine system Childhood experiences of stress due to neglect, physical, psychological or sexual abuse lead in many cases to permanent changes in the stress-regulating neuroendocrine processes. Epidemiological studies already showed 20 years ago that the extent of childhood stressors correlates with the occurrence of various somatic, functional and psychological diseases in adulthood and that cumulative stressors are also reflected in a significantly reduced average life expectancy. The altered stress-related endocrine system is of major importance with regard to the pathogenesis of the secondary somatic, functional and psychological disorders mentioned above.

Motive Satisfaction in Chronic Pain Patients: Does It Improve in Multidisciplinary Inpatient Treatment and, if so, Does It Matter?

According to consistency theory, insufficient motive satisfaction (motivational incongruence) is associated with psychological distress and mental disorders. High levels of distress and comorbid psychological disorders are common in patients with chronic pain. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of motivational incongruence in chronic pain patients and the association of incongruence change with symptom improvement.

The Complex Interplay of Pain, Depression, and Anxiety Symptoms in Patients With Chronic Pain: A Network Approach.

Objective: This study aimed to analyze the associations among depressive and anxiety and pain symptoms in patients diagnosed with chronic pain.

Materials And Methods: Four hundred fifty-four inpatients who were consecutively admitted in a multimodal 3-week treatment in a tertiary, psychosomatic university clinic completed 25 items from the Brief Pain Inventory and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale at baseline and after treatment termination. Associations among symptoms were explored by network analyses using the graphical least absolute shrinkage and selection operator to estimate their partial correlations, whereas Extended Bayesian Information Criterion was used to select the best network solution for the data.

[Functional body disorders].

Functional body disorders By definition, functional disorders cannot be conceptualized bio-morphologically at the organ level. They originate on the basis of dysregulated control processes and perceptional alterations at a superordinate level of the organism. Under excessive stress, any vegetatively regulated system might develop functional disorders.

Rethinking the criteria for fibromyalgia in 2019: the ABC indicators.

Purpose: Diagnostic criteria for fibromyalgia have been subject to debate and controversy for many years. The preliminary diagnostic criteria introduced in 2010 and 2011 have been criticized for different reasons, including questionable diagnostic specificity and a lack of an etiopathogenetic foundation. The "ABC indicators" presented in this study reflect a further development of the 2011 criteria and refer to (A) algesia, (B) bilateral, axial-symmetric pain distribution, and (C) chronic distress.