Free Dissertations - Psychology Dissertations

Motor Behaviours That Attempt To Evade The Pain In Some Way May Continue ...

Motor behaviours that attempt to evade the pain in some way may continue after the pain has subsided or lessened and therefore the cognitions that prompted those beliefs continue. An acute sense of worry or anxiety may heighten safety or defence mechanisms perpetuate an autonomic arousal that maintains positive feedback for the notion that there is something wrong with the patient. Additionally, psychological dysfunction such as depression or mild panic can augment the chances of patients making calculative mistakes regarding their pain including assessing the pain as being worse than it actually is. This will reinforce the cycles of avoidance that the patient has previously used.
This particular reconfiguration of the cognitive behavioural model further accepts that anxiety and other maladaptive behaviours such as misusing medication can easily invoke arousal encourage the continuance of maladaptive behaviours. The model also takes into account the drive for the patient to seek reassurance about their pain and they ways that they deal with it. They attempt to reconcile any feedback received with their own beliefs about their pain and its related effects. Many chronic pain patients live with the trepidation that the continued existence of chronic pain indicates that further damage is being done to their bodies, which will in turn exacerbate the pain they experience. This may raise their levels of anxiety, which affects their ability to think rationally and calmly about their pain. They may request more medical procedurestests or treatmentsto provide empirical evidence to themselves about the state of their bodies. The reconceptualised model indicates that the response of medical professionals in these situations may unknowingly encourage this kind of cognitive presumption and therefore positively reinforce incapacity or a passive response to chronic pain.
The model articulated above is extensively based upon other cognitive behavioural models of chronic pain and can even take into account theories about the nature of the meta-cognitions of the patient. If, for example, the patient cognitively interprets the pain or cognitions related to the pain indicate something negative about them as a person, then they may make efforts to overcome or control such thoughts in attempts to protect themselves from further negative consequences. For example, if the patient fears that thinking about his or her pain is going to make them ‘crazy' then they may make strong efforts to alter their thoughts about the pain in order to stop themselves from descending into mental illness. This may stem from a fear that since their physical health has deteriorated, their mental health is under threat as well. In addition, some patients may think that the more time they spend thinking about their pain, the more serious and damaging it will be.

Order Now. It takes less than 2 minutes.

  1.  
  2.  
  1.  

Please note: The above dissertation snippet was written by a student and then submitted to us to display and help others. Thanks to all the students who have submitted their work to us.