The Clinical journal of pain
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Comparative Study
Preferences, Experience, and Attitudes in the Management of Chronic Pain and Depression: A Comparison of Physicians and Medical Students.
The current study investigated clinicians' treatment preferences for chronic pain and depression and the extent to which these preferences were related to clinicians' experience and attitudes. ⋯ Physicians and medical students shared a general preference for "low-risk," self-management approaches for chronic pain and depression; however, they differed in their recommendations for some specific treatments. Participants' attitudes toward patients with pain and depression were associated with their preferences and accounted for the differences in their treatment decisions. These results suggest a need for early and continuing education to reduce clinicians' negative attitudes toward and improve the management of patients with chronic pain and depression.
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Treatment for childhood leukemia requires frequent lumbar punctures (LP) and bone marrow aspirations (BMA), often described by children and parents as more distressing than the disease itself. Findings in schoolchildren and chronic pain samples indicate that increased parental distress may increase parental protective, pain-attending behavior, which is associated with more child pain and distress. However, in the context of invasive medical procedures, it is unknown which parents are likely to become most distressed and engage in pain-attending behavior, and how this impacts the children's experiences. The present study investigated the impact of parental catastrophic thoughts upon parental distress and pain-attending behavior (verbal and nonverbal). Furthermore, the association between parental responses and the children's pain behavior, pain, and distress was examined. ⋯ The findings demonstrate the importance of parental catastrophic thinking in understanding their caregiving responses and preparing parents and children for painful invasive medical procedures.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Cathodal and Anodal Left Prefrontal tDCS and the Perception of Control Over Pain.
The prefrontal cortex may be a promising target for the use of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in the management of pain symptoms. The present study explored the effects of anodal and cathodal tDCS over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex on the effects of perceived pain controllability. ⋯ Left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex tDCS may play a role in modulating the neurocircuitry involved with the perception of control over pain.
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The aim of this study was to evaluate sensitization and habituation of median somatosensory-evoked potential (MSEP) and correlate with migraine characteristics and allodynia. ⋯ The migraineurs have impaired cortical inhibition to somatosensory stimuli, and sensitization may be a feature of chronicity.