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PSYCH JOURNAL 10/10 /2013. How do you experience pain? Do injuries cause you intense pain or mild pain? Do you think your mind has a role in controlling pain? Have you ever been able to control your pain by thinking a certain way? Explain. Skin Senses. How we feel.
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PSYCH JOURNAL 10/10/2013 • How do you experience pain? Do injuries cause you intense pain or mild pain? • Do you think your mind has a role in controlling pain? Have you ever been able to control your pain by thinking a certain way? Explain..
How we feel • Nerve endings are stimulated by contact or temperature.
Brain processes touch in the somatosensory cortex (parietal lobe). • Sensitivity is greater where more receptor nerves exist (faces, tongues, hands)
Our sense of touch • Research is new, there is still a great deal of information that is not known to scientists. (ex: why people are ticklish) • What we do know: • Four basic skin senses: touch, warmth, cold, and pain.
Pain • Pain serves as a warning system • Pain differs from other senses – when the stimulus producing the pain is removed, the pain continues. • Pain can be generated as a result of sensory information or can be generated from the brain itself
Gate-Control Theory of Pain • Thoughts and feelings can influence our reaction to pain. • How does this work?: • Pain impulses must get past a neurological “gate” in the spinal cord. When closed, the “gate” can block pain messages. • Small fibers located on the “gate” are the physical “keys” that can open the “gate”.
Phantom Pain • Person continues to feel pain after a limb (for example) is removed. The Gate-Control theory does not explain this medical phenomenon.
Neuromatrix Theory of Pain • The brain is capable of generating pain on its own • Network of neurons in the brain gives us a sense of our own body • When the network produces an abnormal pattern, pain results • Memories, emotion, and expectations influence pain • Phantom Pain – Abnormal patterns due to lack of sensory stimulation – amputated limbs.
Phantom Pain and Mirror Therapy • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL_6OMPywnQ