Pain perception, brain and consciousness.

The brain-mind debate presents two principal streams of thought: materialist (brain and mind are different aspects of the same extremely complex "thing") and dualist (brain and mind are two independent things). Originating as a signal of damage transmitted to the thalamus, a warning message becomes perceived pain when the thalamus sends it to, and it is integrated by, the cerebral and cingulated cortices. In addition to various endogenous and exogenous physical factors that may affect (or even inhibit) the perception of pain, pain perception may be modulated, that is, enhanced or inhibited, by cognitive and emotive factors whose origins and existence are principal elements in the brain-mind debate.

Relationship between MPQ and VAS in 962 patients. A rationale for their use.

Background: 1) To analyse the information provided both by the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and by the McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) in a cross-sectional study with patients affected by different kinds of pain and to study the relationship between VAS and MPQ scores in the same patient sample.

Methods: 962 patients affected by different kinds of pain (i.e.

The pain locus of control orientation in a healthy sample of the Italian population: sociodemographic modulating factors.

We studied the pain locus of control orientation of the Italian population and the possible influence of the ethnocultural background and sociodemographic characteristics on this attributional style. An Italian version of the Pain Locus of Control (PLOC-It) scale was administered to 144 healthy subjects, divided into two ethnocultural areas (North vs South) and stratified by age (per decade 21-60), gender (female and male) and educational level (3). The Powerful Other subscale had the highest mean score, followed by the Internality and Chance subscales.