Van Damme Stefaan, Crombez Geert, Van Nieuwenborgh-De Wever Kathleen, Goubert Liesbet
Department of Experimental-Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Belgium.
Eur J Pain. 2008 Jan;12(1):60-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ejpain.2007.03.001. Epub 2007 Apr 12.
Distraction is a commonly used strategy to control pain. However there is doubt about its effectiveness as a clinical tool, and results from both experimental and clinical studies remain inconclusive. Recent theoretical advancements suggest that distraction of attention may be less effective when pain is threatening. The aim of the present study was to experimentally investigate this hypothesis. Pain-free volunteers (N=101) participated in a cold pressor test. Half of the participants simultaneously performed a cognitive distraction task, the other half did not. The threat value of the pain was manipulated by means of verbal information. The results showed that distraction resulted in less attention to the pain and lower pain ratings once the cold pressor procedure was halted. The hypothesis that the effectiveness of distraction is modulated by the threat value of pain could not be confirmed. However, threatening information increased catastrophic thoughts and anxiety, and interfered with performance on the distraction task. These findings suggest that caution is required in using distraction as a pain control strategy when the threat value is high, because fearful appraisal of pain is associated with less engagement in distraction tasks.
分散注意力是一种常用的控制疼痛的策略。然而，对于其作为一种临床工具的有效性存在疑问，实验研究和临床研究的结果均尚无定论。最近的理论进展表明，当疼痛具有威胁性时，分散注意力可能效果较差。本研究的目的是通过实验来探究这一假设。无痛志愿者（N = 101）参与了冷加压试验。一半参与者同时执行一项认知分散任务，另一半则不执行。通过言语信息来操控疼痛的威胁值。结果显示，一旦冷加压程序停止，分散注意力会导致对疼痛的关注减少以及疼痛评分降低。疼痛威胁值会调节分散注意力有效性这一假设未能得到证实。然而，威胁性信息会增加灾难性思维和焦虑，并干扰分散任务的表现。这些发现表明，当威胁值较高时，在使用分散注意力作为疼痛控制策略时需要谨慎，因为对疼痛的恐惧评估与较少参与分散任务有关。
