1 Department of Personality, Assessment, and Psychological Treatments, University of Barcelona , Spain .
Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. 2014 Jun;17(6):353-8. doi: 10.1089/cyber.2014.0057.
There is evidence that virtual reality (VR) pain distraction is effective at improving pain-related outcomes. However, more research is needed to investigate VR environments with other pain-related goals. The main aim of this study was to compare the differential effects of two VR environments on a set of pain-related and cognitive variables during a cold pressor experiment. One of these environments aimed to distract attention away from pain (VRD), whereas the other was designed to enhance pain control (VRC). Participants were 77 psychology students, who were randomly assigned to one of the following three conditions during the cold pressor experiment: (a) VRD, (b) VRC, or (c) Non-VR (control condition). Data were collected regarding both pain-related variables (intensity, tolerance, threshold, time perception, and pain sensitivity range) and cognitive variables (self-efficacy and catastrophizing). Results showed that in comparison with the control condition, the VRC intervention significantly increased pain tolerance, the pain sensitivity range, and the degree of time underestimation. It also increased self-efficacy in tolerating pain and led to a reduction in reported helplessness. The VRD intervention significantly increased the pain threshold and pain tolerance in comparison with the control condition, but it did not affect any of the cognitive variables. Overall, the intervention designed to enhance control seems to have a greater effect on the cognitive variables assessed. Although these results need to be replicated in further studies, the findings suggest that the VRC intervention has considerable potential in terms of increasing self-efficacy and modifying the negative thoughts that commonly accompany pain problems.
有证据表明，虚拟现实（VR）疼痛分散在改善与疼痛相关的结果方面是有效的。然而，需要更多的研究来调查具有其他与疼痛相关目标的 VR 环境。本研究的主要目的是比较两种 VR 环境在冷加压实验期间对一组与疼痛相关的和认知变量的差异影响。其中一种环境旨在分散对疼痛的注意力（VRD），而另一种环境旨在增强疼痛控制（VRC）。参与者是 77 名心理学学生，他们在冷加压实验中被随机分配到以下三种条件之一：（a）VRD，（b）VRC 或（c）非 VR（对照条件）。收集了与疼痛相关的变量（强度、耐受、阈值、时间感知和疼痛敏感性范围）和认知变量（自我效能感和灾难化）的数据。结果表明，与对照条件相比，VRC 干预显著增加了疼痛耐受、疼痛敏感性范围和时间低估程度。它还提高了忍受疼痛的自我效能感，并导致报告的无助感降低。与对照条件相比，VRD 干预显著增加了疼痛阈值和疼痛耐受，但对任何认知变量都没有影响。总体而言，旨在增强控制的干预似乎对评估的认知变量有更大的影响。尽管这些结果需要在进一步的研究中复制，但研究结果表明，VRC 干预在提高自我效能感和改变常见的疼痛问题的负面思维方面具有相当大的潜力。
