Pain

Pain: A Psychophysiological Analysis focuses on the processes, mechanisms, and approaches in studying pain.
The book first offers information on the problems of experimental pain and neurological activity. Topics include anxiety as an experimental variable, implications for experimental pain, pain stimuli, receptors, and fibers, dorsal roots and spinal cord, and sensory nerves. The text also ponders on physiological responses and overt pain behavior. Discussions focus on perceptual, cognitive, personality, family, and ethnic factors, aggression, adaptation and rebound, stress, and pain-specific responses.
The publication takes a look at affective descriptions and insensitivity to pain. Concerns include interpersonal aspects of pain, subjective responses to pain, psychodynamics of pain responses, personality development without pain, and possible neural defects. Phantom pain and hypnotic and placebo effects are also elaborated. The manuscript is a vital source of data for psychiatrists, neurologists, psychologists, and physiologists.

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

Chapter I Introduction and Definitions

Pain as Experience

Linguistic Parallelism

Pain as Response

Pain as Stimulus

A Definition of Pain

Chapter II Problems of Experimental Pain

Clinical vs. Experimental Pain Conditions

Clinical vs. Experimental Pain Responses

Anxiety as an Experimental Variable

Implications for Experimental Pain

Chapter III Neurological Activity

Pain Stimuli

Pain Receptors

Pain Fibers

Sensory Nerves

Dorsal Roots and Spinal Cord

The Thalamus

Other Cephalic Structures

Current Theories of Pain

Conclusions

Chapter IV Physiological Responses

Activation

Adaptation and Rebound

Law of Initial Values

Stress

Pain-Specific Responses

Individual Response-Stereotypy

Conclusions

Chapter V Overt Pain Behavior

Perceptual Factors

Cognitive Factors

Personality Factors

Family Factors

Ethnic Factors

Aggression

Summary and Conclusions

Chapter VI Affective Descriptions

Introductory Remarks

Subjective Responses to Pain

Interpersonal Aspects of Pain Responses

Some Psychodynamics of Pain Responses

Summary

Chapter VII Insensitivity to Pain

Establishing Criteria

Survey of Cases

Best Documented Case

Survival without Pain

An Opposing View

Personality Development without Pain

A Differing Viewpoint

Possible Neural Defects

Conclusions

Chapter VIII Phantom Pain

Value Judgments

The Phantom Limb

Phantom Limb Pain

Motivations for Phantom Pain: an Illustration

Treatment of the Painful Phantom

Summary and Conclusions

Chapter IX Hypnotic and Placebo Effects

Hypnosis

Placebo Phenomena

Hypnotic and Placebo Pain Relief

Chapter X Summary and Common Concepts

Clinical Purposes

Experimental Purposes

Theoretical Purposes

Summary of Chapters

Common Concepts

An Attempt at Integration

Some Implications

Uses of "Multilingual" Analyses

References

Author Index

Subject Index