Pain Theories Essay, Research Paper

Pain has been experienced by everyone regardless of age, gender or economic

position. Pain is normally described as unfavourable experience that has a lasting

emotional and disenabling influence on the person. Theories that explain and

aid in understanding what hurting is, how it originates and why we feel it are

the Specificity theory, Pattern Theory and Gate theory. In this paper I will

effort to show my apprehension of the theories and besides will be

critically analysing the theories about the experience of hurting by integrating

relevant constructs from literature and associating it to psychology. Pain has been

described with a broad scope of different words. McCaffery ( cited in Adams and

Bromley, p192, 1998 ) merely states that the experience of hurting as being? what

the sing individual says it is, bing when he says it does? . This

definition by McCaffery strongly indicates that hurting is conceived and

experienced otherwise in an individualised mode.McCafferys? s definition

of hurting suggests experiences of hurting depends merely on the individual sing the

hurting and that no other individual is to the full capable to understand how he/she may be

feeling as the consequence of hurting. McCaffery does non really province in his

definition what hurting is and what causes the uncomfortableness, how and why hurting

arises ( Adams and Bromley,1998 ) . Bond ( 1984 ) describes hurting as being a personal

and alone experience which arises in the encephalon due to injury to the organic structure

tissue, disease or due to biochemical alterations in our organic structures. There are two chief

types of hurting, ague and chronic. Acute hurting is experienced for a short clip and

normally has a specific cause and aim such as hurt to organic structure tissue ( Adams

and Bromley, 1998 ) . Acute hurting can be treated utilizing drugs such as acetylsalicylic acid or

other method of hurting relieve. Chronic hurting has no clip bound hence, can last

for months and old ages, and serves no obvious biological intent. Chronic hurting can

hold a important impact on the quality of individual? s life as chronic hurting can

trigger psychological every bit good as physical and emotional jobs that leads to

feelings of weakness and hopelessness as most chronic hurting can non be cured

( Goleman and Gurin,1993 ) . Trouble theories that I will discoursing in this paper

are specificity, form and gate control theory as these are the major

theories that assist in explicating the constructs of hurting. The modern position

sees the construct of hurting from a position that includes psychological factors but the

earlier theories such as Specificity theory and Pattern theory were more focussed

on tissue harm as the cause of hurting. The Specificity theory was originated in

Greece.This theory was highlighted by Descartes in 1664 who expressed that the

hurting system as being like a? bell & # 8211 ; pealing mechanism in a church? ( Melzack

and Wall, p196,1984 ) .Descartes ( cited in Melzack and Wall,1984 ) explained

that when person pulls the rope to pealing the bell, the bell rings in the tower.

Hence, specificity theory suggests that hurting is caused by hurt or harm to

organic structure tissue. The damaged nervus fibers in our organic structures sends direct messages

through the specific hurting receptors and fibers to the hurting centre, the encephalon

which causes the person to experience hurting ( Adams and Bromley,1998 ) . This theory

suggest that there is a strong nexus between hurting and hurt and that the

badness of hurt determines the sum of hurting experienced by the individual

( Brannon and Feist, 2000 ) . The Pattern theory was incorporated into the

specificity theory which added more constructs to explicate and extended its

hypothesis of hurting.The form theory provinces that nervus fibers that carry trouble

signals can besides convey messages of cold, heat and force per unit area can besides

transportation hurting if an hurt or harm to organic structure tissue occurs ( Adams and

Bromley,1998 ) .The Pattern theory claims that hurting is felt as a effect to

the sum of tissue damaged ( McCance and Huether, 1990 ) . Both Pattern theory

and Specificity Theory are portion of Linear theoretical account of hurting which merely

demonstrates that noxious stimulation such as tissue harm or hurt consequences in

the nervus tissues being stimulated which causes painful esthesis which causes a

response or painful behaviour ( Adams and Bromley, 1998 ) . The Specificity theory

and Pattern theory are non sufficient in explicating the experience of hurting as

the theoreticians fail to include any psychological facets of hurting. Adams and

Bromley, ( 1998 ) felt that the specificity theory does non see the person

difference in how hurting is perceived by people. Brannon and Feist ( 2000 ) besides

stress that this

peculiar theory diminutions to integrate how hurting is felt

throughout the society. Melzack and Wall, ( 1984 ) claims that soldiers who were

badly injured during the wars reported sing small or no hurting for

yearss after the hurt while people with chronic hurting show intolerable sum of

hurting even though they have no noticeable hurt to organic structure tissue. Adams and

Bromley ( 1998 ) illustrates that if badness of hurt was seen as sum of hurting

experienced so hurting alleviation would be given harmonizing to the sum of hurt,

non harmonizing to the individual who had sustained the hurt, irrespective of how the

individual conveys their hurting. Hence clients with chronic hurting would be seen as

? carbon blacks? as they have no seeable hurt or damaged tissue and will non

treated with anodynes and would be rejected by physicians ( Bond, 1984 ) . Melzack

and Wall proposed the thought of Gate Control theory in 1965. This new theory was

against the thought of Liner theoretical account as the theoretician believed that hurting perceptual experience is

influenced by a figure of factors which begins in the spinal cord. Melzack and

Wall highlighted that hurting messages are carried by the specific nervus fibers

that can be blocked before making the encephalon by the actions of other nervousnesss and

psychological factors ( Brannon and Feist, 2000, Polnik 1999, Goleman and Gurin,

1993 ) . Melzack and Wall suggested that when hurting signals foremost reach the nervous

system, the hurting messages are sent the thalamus and the? gate? opens to

allow the hurting messages to be sent to superior centres in the encephalon ( Brannon and

Feist, 2000 ) .However, the gate may stay closed if nerve cells come in contact with

hurting signals, the nerve cells has the ability to overmaster the hurting signals which

consequences in the gate staying closed ( Brannon and Feist, 2000 ) . Pain signals can

besides be stopped if the conjectural gate remains closed as our natural

analgesic, endophins, blocks the hurting signals from acquiring to the encephalon ( Goleman

and Gurin, 1993 ) . Melzack and Wall ( cited in Bromley and Adams,1998 )

high spots that old memory of how the anterior painful state of affairs was handled,

supportive support members, positive thought of hurting, distraction, prior

conditioning, cultural values, ennui, emphasis, negative thought, hapless hurting

get bying accomplishment may let the gate to open or to stay closed by impacting the

cardinal control system.This construct can be explained by Beecher ( cited in

Brannon and Feist, 2000 ) who noticed that the soldiers during World War II

reported little hurting even though they had sever harm to weave due to the

conflict. These soldiers had positive thought and were distracted because hurt

meant that the soldiers would be allowed to travel place or prolong no farther hurt

( Beecher cited Brannon and Feist, 2000 ) . The gate control theory provinces that

not painful stimulation such as distraction competes with the painful urge to

make the encephalon. This rivalary limits the figure of urges that can be

transmitted in the encephalon by making the conjectural gate ( Plotnik,1999 ) . The

Gate control theory is the first and the merely theory to take into history

psychological factors of hurting experiences. Experiences of hurting are influenced by

many physical and psychological factors such as beliefs, anterior experience,

motive, emotional facets, anxiousness and depression can increase hurting by

impacting the cardinal control system in the encephalon. The specificity theory and

the form theory suggests that hurting occurs merely due to damage to personify tissue

while the gate control theory claims that hurting may be experienced without any

physical hurt and persons interpret hurting otherwise even though the

extent of hurt is the same.

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