Positive thinking can lessen the perception of pain, study reveals

Positive Thinking Can Improve Treatment

Positive thinking can do wonders for your emotional well-being and it is likely to have a similar impact on how you perceive pain as well.

A new study published February 16 in the medical journal Science Translational Medicine suggests that pain perception varies according to the belief of patients that they are receiving painkillers or not. The findings are a flipside to the placebo effect -- where dummy pills believed to be real drugs tend to work just as well as true medication.

Researchers at Hamburg's University Medical Center and Oxford University scanned the brains of 22 patients while they received a painkiller remifentanil to alleviate heat.

First, the participants were not informed that they were being administered the painkiller. And because of the drug's properties, the patients reported that their pain level went down.

During the second phase, they were informed that remifentanil will only begin to be administered at that point, although they had been receiving it unknowingly since earlier in the first phase. The participants reported even lowered pain levels because of expected pain relief and positive thinking.

At the last phase, the researchers lied and told the participants that they were halting the drug. The participants' level of pain went up again with this information, even though they were still receiving the painkiller.

The researchers said the findings show how medical treatments can be more effective if positive thinking is emphasized.

"We believe that the beliefs, expectations and previous experiences with drug treatments should be more systematically assessed and integrated [by doctors] to optimize the overall treatment outcome," the authors wrote.

The next time you undergo a procedure or sign up for treatment, just remember the power of positive thinking.

Posted by George Daniels on Tuesday March 01 2011, 4:28 AM EST. Ref: AP. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Health. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0