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BJA Advance Access originally published online on May 28, 2008
British Journal of Anaesthesia 2008 101(1):25-31; doi:10.1093/bja/aen123
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© The Board of Management and Trustees of the British Journal of Anaesthesia 2008. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Psychology of pain

S. Morley*

Institute of Health Sciences, University of Leeds, 101 Clarendon Road, Leeds LS2 9LJ, UK

* E-mail: s.j.morley{at}leeds.ac.uk

This article briefly reviews psychological aspects of pain, paying special attention to chronic pain. The review considers the interruptive and interference effects of pain and its impact on a person's identity. The importance of processes related to interruption, interference, and identity will vary across people and the duration of pain. Although brief phasic pain such as that presented in the laboratory will have marked interruptive effects, it is unlikely to produce interference or impact on a person's identity. Acute clinical pain will have both interruptive and interference effects, albeit of a temporary nature, but it is unlikely to have any impact on a person's identity. Chronic persistent pain or frequent recurrent episodic pain, such as headache, may have profound effects on a Person's life. Each of these themes is illustrated with examples drawn from the experimental and clinical literature.

Keywords: pain, acute; pain, chronic; psychological responses


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