European journal of pain : EJP
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Comparative Study
Socially induced placebo analgesia: A comparison of a pre-recorded versus live face-to-face observation.
Recently, it has been shown that live, face-to-face social observation induces marked placebo analgesia. Despite the phenomenal growth of video sharing platforms, the potential analgesic effects of video-based social observation are largely unknown. This study compared video-based and live social observation induced placebo analgesia and whether there was a similar relationship between analgesic responses and empathy traits for both conditions. ⋯ These findings add evidence that placebo analgesia can be induced by social observation and that empathy interacts with these effects in a context-dependent manner.
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Numerous studies have demonstrated a robust link between alexithymic traits and somatic complaints in patients suffering from psychosomatic disorders, while less is known about disease-related impairments in the processing of affective social information. Deficits in emotion recognition can lead to misinterpretations of social signals and induce distress in interpersonal interactions. This, in turn, might contribute to somatoform symptomatology in affected individuals. The aim of the present study was to investigate basal facial affect recognition as well as higher-order cognitive mind-reading skills in order to further clarify the association between alexithymia and the processing of social affective information in a homogenous sample of patients suffering from somatoform pain. ⋯ PSPD subjects tend to overattribute inappropriate affective states to others, which could be the consequence of the inability to adequately experience and express their own emotional reactions. This cognitive bias might lead to the experience of poor psychosocial functioning and has the potential to negatively impact the course and outcome of this psychopathology.
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The difficulty in identifying the onset of low back pain (LBP) limits the capacity to determine the incidence of LBP at the population level and, further, to identify risk factors. In the literature, incidence cohorts have been built with patients initially considered LBP-free for 6-12 months prior to their selection. This 'clearance period' might not be sufficient to exclude recurrent patients having experienced previous LBP episodes and might result in a misclassification bias. ⋯ Screening the medical history of LBP patients can provide more accurate incidence estimates by limiting the over-ascertainment of first-time LBP patients. A 4- to 7-year clearance period should be considered.
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This study evaluated the involvement of tumour necrosis factor α (TNF-α) in orofacial thermal and mechanical hyperalgesia induced by an inflammatory stimulus or by chronic constriction of the infraorbital nerve (CION) using etanercept (Eta), a TNF-receptor fusion protein that inhibits TNF-α action. ⋯ These results suggest that TNF-α has an important role in cold, heat and mechanical hyperalgesia induced by inflammation or neuropathy in the orofacial region and this may contribute for the establishment of new therapeutic strategies to treat orofacial pain.