of Pretoria
MGW 112
Chapter 10 – Pain and Its Management Significance of pain ● Pain disrupts our lives, significant for managing daily activities
... [Show More] ● Pain is essential for survival o Minor pain provides low-level feedback about body’s functioning ▪ Can be unconscious e.g. changing posture, uncrossing legs, rolling over in sleep ● Medical significance o Leads individual to seek treatment o Weak relationship between degree of pain and severity of problem e.g. cancer o Source of misunderstanding between patient and provider: patient sees pain as important, doctor sees underlying disorder as more important ▪ Patient may thus not comply with treatment as important problem isn’t getting enough attention ● Psychological significance o Depression and anxiety worsen pain o Patients dread not being able to reduce suffering - causes more anxiety than surgery, loss of limb, death o Inadequate pain relief most common reason for euthanasia requests ● Prevalence o 70-85% in US – back pain o 40 million chronic arthritis o 45 million chronic headaches o Intermediate to advanced stages of cancer – severe pain Elusive nature of pain ● Pain is a psychological experience ● Interpretation based on degree to which it is felt and how incapacitating it is ● WWII (Beecher) o Only 25% of soldiers requested morphine for severe wounds ▪ Injury meant he was alive and likely to be sent home o 80% of civilians in substantial pain ▪ Injury was a disruption of valued activities ● Pain influenced by: o Context ▪ Sports injuries – athletes keep going, seem oblivious to pain ▪ Due to sympathetic arousal ▪ Stress and psychological distress aggravate pain ▪ Shut-ins – nothing to do – feel pain more o Culture ▪ No ethnic or racial differences in ability to discriminate painful stimuli but some report pain sooner and react more intensely to it ▪ Derive from differences in cultural norms w.r.t. expression of pain and different pain mechanisms o Gender ▪ Women show greater sensitivity Measu [Show Less]