Study of gate control theory and pain essay

Study of gate control theory and pain essay The main principles of gate control theory All people know how to feel pain but they all feel frustrated to describe it. People really feel hard to describe the pain with words despite the fact they pain takes a part in each persons life. Needless to say that human ability to feel pain is a complex and very important mechanism of survival. Different people can feel the same pain different because the pain perception depends on their emotional stability, psychological condition, mood, and the experience with pain from their past. In 1965, the psychologist from Canada, Ronald Melzack and the physiologist from Great Britain, Patrick Wall created their theory that made a big influence on understanding of pain. Their theory made a real upheaval in pain exploring and explained all psychological and physical aspects of pain perception. According to this studying, pain signals go through a kind of “neurological gates” that situated at the spinal cord stage, and only after this the gates should define if these signals have to reach the human brain or not. So, when the gate opens, signals are provided to the brain, and we feel pain. If the gate closes, the signals are stopped and cannot go further, so we can feel pain less or it may disappear. With this theory, we can find a simple explanation why people can stop feeling pain after rubbing an injured area that causes pain. Pain management from the view of the theory This theory also suggested that peoples thoughts and emotions can has a great impact on the pain signal transmission, so the same level of pain could feel different by people with various moods and emotions. Some people who have chronic pain, are able to forget about their pain, especially when they are concentrated on some activities that fully involves them. In opposite, when these people are stressed, anxious or depressed, they may experience intense pain they feel hard to manage with. This is just because our brain sends signals that can decrease, enhance or stop the pain signals, depending on the emotional condition of the certain person. This can explain those phenomenons when a hypnotized person can be operated without anesthesia, so it means the hypnoses helps to close the gate and pain impulses cannot be transferred into the brain, and the person doesnt feel pain at all. If to tell about pain perception of people in various moods, its possible to say that those patients who feel nervous and fearful, will experience the highest level of pain compared to calm people that keep their emotions under control. For example, it explains why some small children afraid even slight manipulations like a simple injection that doesnt cause any pain to the calm person. Fear and tension cause more pain just because people in this condition are ready to expect a huge level of pain, thats why even small pain seems to them unbearable and nasty. Needless to say that any medical treatment is connected to the psycho social condition of the patient. Positive expectations of the treatment obviously have a healing effect that makes people feel better. The potential of expectations has been called as the “placebo effect” that describes a positive effects of the treatment that cannot be assigned to its physical action. For example, a patient that suffers with pain, may say he or she feels better after a placebo injection. It means the treatment goes only on the psychological level because a real painkiller wasnt used, but the patient thinks he got some medicine that will exactly remove the pain. So, if patients will be able to see their pain in terms of significance, and the doctors are successful in treating, it means that people would feel more calm and relaxed, so they wont suffer from pain so much and their psychological and physical condition will be much better. Its quite important for both patients and doctors to understand the connection between the level of pain and psycho physical condition of the person.