Pain Perception Essay

Recently, another study based on the idea that one’s emotions and thoughts have an impact on the physiology of the brain demonstrated a way in which mindfulness can empower the practitioners to control their pain perception. It was conducted in 2011 by the neuroscientist Fadel Zeidan who followed the already established by Wilder Penfield fact - that sensation of pain is perceived by the brain at the same place where the feeling of touch is - that is, the somatosensory cortex. The experiment hypothesised that there will be a noticeable difference in the process of pain perception and reaction in people with chronic pain that had undergone MBSR intervention. Baseline of the participants observed was collected prior to the intervention, followed by a four-days-long mindfulness training the subjects were tested once more using a repeated measures design. Additionally, participants’ brain activity data was collected through functional magnetic
resonance imaging (fMRI). The results showed significantly scaled down scores on pain-unpleasantness (by 57%) and pain-intensity reported (by 40%) while meditating in the presence of noxious stimuli, as compared to the baseline test (Zeidan et al., 2011). Moreover, the fMRI data verified subjects’ scores as both reductions in the variables were associated with increased activity in areas of the brain responsible for the cognitive regulation of nociceptive perception (Zeidan et al., 2011). On the other hand, the strong report and dramatic results supporting the hypothesis should not be taken as a certainty, because of the limited sample size (N=15) and the short period of training. However, being one of the most recent studies revealing the accuracy in the relationship between the data shown by the fMRI expertise and the quantitative data collected, it is considered as a solid base for further research.

Different variations of mindfulness practices are increasingly being suggested to the modern individual and with each day the intervention is becoming more easily accessible.
Along with the practice’s increasing popularity comes a wave of concerns and criticisms regarding the practice of mindfulness itself, such as the facts that mindfulness can trigger mania, hallucinations or feelings of panic and increasing anxiety (Grossman P. et al., 2003). However, a meta-analysis on a decade worth of findings was used as an approach to reviewing sixty-four studies (done before the year of 2002) of which only twenty met the analysis’ criteria. Some of the reasons for the excluded studies include unrelevant population assessed, insufficient information regarding the intervention and poor quantitative health interpretation of the data - all of which lead to unjustifiable . Each of the twenty carefully examined studies proved the efficacy of MBSR as an additional treatment for chronic pain patients specifically (Grossman P. et al.,
2003).