This document outlines various psychological strategies for pain control, including pharmacological, surgical, sensory, biofeedback, relaxation, distraction, coping skills training, cognitive behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, guided imagery, hypnosis, and acupuncture. Pharmacological strategies involve using medications like opioids, non-opioids, and adjuvants to control pain. Surgical strategies disrupt pain transmission. Relaxation techniques lower muscle tension and arousal. Cognitive behavioral therapy teaches patients to manage pain through challenging maladaptive thoughts and adopting adaptive behaviors.

1. Department of Applied Psychology
Government College Women University,
Faisalabad

2. Health Psychology
Course code Psy-558 Cr.hrs 3(3-0)
Processes of pain
Pain control strategies
Course Instructors
Ms. Rabiya Amer
Ms. Nazia Yaqoob
Ms. Maryam Shahzadi

3. Subjective, Affective processes
of pain

4. Pain perception
 It is the conscious awareness of the experience
of pain. It is highly individualistic and depends
upon certain factors

5. Factors
• Subjective Processes
• Related to person himself
• which have an influence on pain perception are
age, gender, personality type.

6. • Affective processes
• Emotions have an impact on perception of pain
• Like fear, anxiety amplifies pain, can also turn
acute pain to chronic.

7. • Cognitive processes
• These involve the role of learning,
catastrophizing, meaning, attention have
influence on perception of pain

8. Pain Control
 It includes the methods which help patient soothes
the feelings of pain and relax
 It can mean that a patient no longer feels anything
in an area that once hurt.
 The person feels sensation but not pain.

9. 1. Pharmacological control
 Medications are prescribed generally for
controlling pain
 Which include analgesics which may include
Opoids (derived from opium like morphine),
 non opoids (non steroidal effects like ibuprofen,
aspirin)

10. Pharmacological control
 and adjuvants (medicines developed for
purposes other than pain but have analgesic
properties).
 Other methods include exercise, acupunture,
massage therapy.

11. 2. Surgical control
 Surgical treatments involve cutting and creating
lesions in the pain fibers so that pain sensations
cannot be felt
 as surgeries disrupt the transmission of pain from
periphery to the spinal cord.

12. 3. Sensory Control
 It is considered as one of the oldest pain controlling
technique known as counter irritation
 which is a method of pain control to inhibit pain in
one part of the body, pain is stimulated in the other
part.
 The sensory techniques are effective but short
lived and have temporary effect for acute pain
reduction.

13. 4. Biofeedback
 A method of providing bio physiological
feedback to a patient about bodily processes of
the patient.
 Firstly target behavior is identified like blood
pressure,
 it is then tracked by a machine so that patient can
know how his body is responding.

14. Bio feedback
 The patient then attempts to control his bodily
processes.
• This technique is helpful for treating headaches,
chronic pain syndromes etc.

15. 5. Relaxation Techniques
 can be used along with other pain control
techniques to cope with stress and anxiety which
may reduce the impact of pain.
 It can also reduce pain alone as decrease in muscle
tension by relaxation.
 The body is shifted to a state of low arousal and
calmness.

16. Relaxation techniques
Progressive muscle relaxation

17. Deep breathing

18. Meditation

19. 6. Distraction
 A process of diverting or shifting attention to
another stimulus or another activity so that pain
sensitivity is reduced.
 This technique is employed by sportsmen and
military persons.

20. Distraction
Two methods are utilized
• One way is to distract attention to another
activity.
• The other technique is to focus on events but to
reinterpret the experience.

21. 7. Coping Skills training
 Effective for dealing with chronic pain.
 As research showed that facing and attending to
pain is effective rather than avoiding it.

22. 8. Cognitive Behavior therapy
• CBT is effective for management of pain with both
individual and group sessions
• It is short term therapy and provide quick relief.

23. CBT
Goals for CBT are
• The patients are first taught that pain is not
catastrophic but it is manageable.
• The clients are encouraged to actively participate as
a resourceful individuals who can aid control pain.

24. • Clients learn to monitor the maladaptive thoughts
and change them to adaptive ones.
• Clients are taught adaptive responses and they are
taught when to employ overt and covert behaviors
to manage pain
• Clients are taught therapies that can help control
their emotional responses to pain.

26. 9. Acceptance and commitment therapy
o The aim is to control the feelings of drug dependency to
control pain
o The patient is encouraged to review the actual problem and
previous strategies to solve the problem
o Time duration of problem and the strategies to solve the
problem are reviewed.

27. 10. Guided Imagery
• It is a process by which the imagination is used to
stimulate all of the senses of the body creating an
imaginary experience for reconstruction of
fearful or painful thoughts.
• It helps in healing process

28. 11. Hypnosis
Hypnosis is a state of high focus, concentration and
high responsive to suggestions.
Firstly patient is brought to a state of relaxation
Patient is then informed that hypnosis will reduce
the pain

29. • When the patient is brought into hypnotic state,
he is instructed to view pain in a different way
• Hypnosis is effective for treating pains due to
child births, surgeries, headaches etc.

30. 12. Acupuncture
Needles are inserted in specific areas of the body that
affects the areas in which the person is feeling pain.
It triggers the release of endorphins which reduces
the feeling of pain.

32. Consider a recent situation in which you
have experienced pain…
Which psychological strategy you have
used for controlling this pain?
Is that strategy effective? If not what else
could be used?

33. References
Taylor, S. H. (2018). Health Psychology. McGraw-Hill
education: New York.
Ghosh, M. (2015). Health Psychology: Concepts in
Health and Wellbeing. Pearson Education: India.

34. CLASS
DISCUSSION