Department of Medical Psychology 840, Radboud University Medical Center, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Acta Derm Venereol. 2010;90(1):46-51. doi: 10.2340/00015555-0743.
Patients frequently report high levels of physical symptoms, such as itch and pain, which do not completely correspond to pathophysiological findings, possibly indication heightened sensitivity to physical symptoms. Sensitivity to itch and pain is thought to be affected by processes such as attentional focus on bodily sensations. We investigated the role of attentional focus in sensitivity to various somatosensory stimuli evoking both itch and pain sensations in healthy female subjects. Different mechanical, chemical and electrical stimuli of quantitative sensory testing were applied. Attentional focus on bodily sensations was measured using validated questionnaires. The results indicated that focusing on bodily sensations is associated with higher levels of experienced itch and pain but not with tolerance to stimuli. This suggests that attentional focusing on bodily sensations is a mechanism responsible for sensitivity to different physical sensations, such as itch and pain.
患者常报告高水平的身体症状，如瘙痒和疼痛，这些症状与病理生理学发现不完全对应，可能表明对身体症状的敏感性增加。对瘙痒和疼痛的敏感性被认为受到注意力集中在身体感觉等过程的影响。我们研究了注意力集中在健康女性受试者对引起瘙痒和疼痛感觉的各种躯体感觉刺激的敏感性中的作用。应用了不同的机械、化学和电刺激定量感觉测试。使用经过验证的问卷来测量对身体感觉的注意力集中。结果表明，对身体感觉的关注与更高水平的瘙痒和疼痛体验相关，但与对刺激的耐受力无关。这表明，对身体感觉的注意力集中是对不同身体感觉（如瘙痒和疼痛）敏感性的一种机制。
