Health Psychology (pain)

Health Psychology
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Institutional Affiliation

Health Psychology
What psychosocial factors influence the significance and interpretation of pain?
There is a general belief that pain is directly an outcome of tissue damage and it is this thinking that has been dominant in the medical field for a long time. However, new schools of thought have emerged which are attempting to explain the non-physical causes and influences of pain. Some psychological factors influence the significance and interpretation of pain. First, attention has been tipped as one of these psychological factors (Steven & William, 2011). When one pays too much attention to the pain stimulus, there is a possibility that the intensity of such pain will be heightened.
I believe the reason as to why the student with type 1 diabetes has been able to excel in soccer and remain focused on school while at the same time maintaining a rigors injection and glucose monitoring is the fact that he has not been paying too much attention to his condition. He is, therefore, able to concentrate on other pain and forget the pain from injections (Steven & William, 2011). Emotions can also increase the intensity of pain. For instance, when one is anxious, or they have fear resulting from a painful situation they have faced in the past, there is a possibility that the resultant distress if faced with a similar situation, will increase the pain intensity.
Is there a relationship between coping strategy and chronic illness?
Coping strategy can help a patient to cope with chronic illness.

When they focus less on the problem, the intensity of the pain is likely to reduce. However, if they pay much attention to the problem, the pain will increase and hence the chronic illness might persist. Similarly, the emotional focus has a great effect on the chronic illnesses (Büssing et al. 2010). As it has been mentioned earlier, a recollection of past painful events will increase the level of distress. The distress further leads to high pain intensity. In the case of a patient who is ailing from a chronic illness, their recovery might be delayed as a result of the distress. Like is the case of the student who has Type 1 diabetes, avoiding the problem or other focusing on a different thing rather than the illness will aid in the recovery process. It will increase the speed of recovery and hence can ease the pain of a chronic illness.
References
Büssing, A., Ostermann, T., Neugebauer, E. A., & Heusser, P. (2010). Adaptive coping strategies in patients with chronic pain conditions and their interpretation of disease. BMC Public Health, 10, 507. http://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-10-507
Steven J. L, & William S. S. (2011). Impact of Psychological Factors in the Experience of Pain, Physical Therapy, 91(5) Pages 700–711, https://doi.org/10.2522/ptj.20100330