The Neuroscience Of Pain

Neuroscience of Pain, Stress, and Emotion: Psychological and Clinical Implications presents updated research on stress, pain, and emotion, all key research areas within both basic and clinical neuroscience. Improved research understanding of their interaction is ultimately necessary if clinicians and those working in the field of psychosomatic medicine are to alleviate patient suffering. This volume offers broad coverage of that interaction, with chapters written by major researchers in the field. After reviewing the neuroscience of pain and stress, the contents go on to address the interaction between stress and chronic/acute pain, the role of different emotions in pain, neurobiological mechanisms mediating these various interactions, individual differences in both stress and pain, the role of patient expectations during treatment (placebo and nocebo responses), and how those relate to stress modulation. While there are books on the market which discuss pain, stress, and emotion separately, this volume is the first to tackle their nexus, thus appealing to both researchers and clinicians. Represents the only comprehensive reference detailing the link between pain, stress and emotion, covering the neuroscientific underpinnings, related psychological processes, and clinical implications Compiles, in one place, research which promises to improve the methodology of clinical trials and the use of knowledge of pain-stress-emotion effects in order to reduce patients’ suffering Provides comprehensive chapters authored by global leaders in the field, the broadest, most expert coverage available

Pain is an inevitable part of existence, but severe debilitating or chronic pain is a pathological condition that diminishes the quality of life. The Brain and Pain explores the present and future of pain management, providing a comprehensive understanding based on the latest discoveries from many branches of neuroscience. Richard Ambron—the former director of a neuroscience lab that conducted leading research in this field—explains the science of how and why we feel pain. He describes how the nervous system and brain process information that leads to the experience of pain, detailing the cellular and molecular functions that are responsible for the initial perceptions of an injury. He discusses how pharmacological agents such as opiates affect the duration and intensity of pain. Ambron examines new evidence showing that discrete circuits in the brain modulate the experience of pain in response to a placebo, fear, anxiety, belief, or other circumstances, as well as how pain can be relieved by activating these circuits using mindfulness training and other nonpharmacological treatments. The book also evaluates the prospects of procedures such as deep brain stimulation and optogenetics. Current and thorough, The Brain and Pain will be invaluable for a range of people seeking to understand their options for treatment as well as students in neuroscience and medicine.

The Neuroscience of Pain, Anesthetics and Analgesics examines the syndromes of pain and how they interlink with anesthesia and analgesics. The book covers assessments, screening and resources, and provides applications to related areas of medicine. It explores how the perception of pain results from a multifaceted interaction between illness beliefs, age, gender, time of onset, stress, socioeconomic status, and other factors. In addition, it scrutinizes how the neuroscience of pain in one condition may be relevant to understanding pain observed in other conditions. Sections address the onset of pain, the cause of pain, and the administration of analgesia or anesthesia. The book works to clarify all of the subjects pertinent to anesthesia and the brain. Featuring chapters on neurotransmitters, pharmacology and brain imaging, this volume discusses the mechanisms of pain and experimental studies undertaken to better understand the pathways involved. Includes content on the features and assessments of pain, anesthesia and analgesia Provides a mini-dictionary of terms and summary points that succinctly encapsulate each chapter Covers a broad range of topics related to the neuroscience of analgesics and anesthetics Helps readers navigate key areas for research and further clinical recommendations Features chapters on molecular pathways, imaging and a deep look at behavior associated with the experience of pain

Imagine an orchestra in your brain. It plays all kinds of harmonious melodies, then pain comes along and the different sections of the orchestra are reduced to a few pain tunes. All pain is real. And for many people it is a debilitating part of everyday life. It is now known that understanding more about why things hurt can actually help people to overcome their pain. Recent advances in fields such as neurophysiology, brain imaging, immunology, psychology and cellular biology have provided an explanatory platform from which to explore pain. In everyday language accompanied by quirky illustrations, Explain Pain discusses how pain responses are produced by the brain: how responses to injury from the autonomic motor and immune systems in your body contribute to pain, and why pain can persist after tissues have had plenty of time to heal. Explain Pain aims to give clinicians and people in pain the power to challenge pain and to consider new models for viewing what happens during pain. Once they have learnt about the processes involved they can follow a scientific route to recovery. The Authors: Dr Lorimer Moseley is Professor of Clinical Neurosciences and the Inaugural Chair in Physiotherapy at the University of South Australia, Adelaide, where he leads research groups at Body in Mind as well as with Neuroscience Research Australia in Sydney. Dr David Butler is an international freelance educator, author and director of the Neuro Orthopaedic Institute, based in Adelaide, Australia. Both authors continue to publish and present widely.

Introduction to Pain and its relation to Nervous System Disorders provides an accessible overview of the latest developments in the science underpinning pain research, including, but not limited to, the physiological, pathological and psychological aspects. This unique book fills a gap in current literature by focussing on the intricate relationship between pain and human nervous system disorders such as Autism, Alzheimer Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, Depression and Multiple Sclerosis. This fully illustrated, colour handbook will help non-experts, including advanced undergraduate and new postgraduate students, become familiar with the current, wide-ranging areas of research that cover every aspect of the field from chronic and inflammatory pain to neuropathic pain and biopsychosocial models of pain, functional imaging and genetics. Contributions from leading experts in neuroscience and psychiatry provide both factual information and critical points of view on their approach and the theoretical framework behind their choices. An appreciation of the strengths and weaknesses of brain imaging technology applied to pain research in humans provides the tools required to understand current cutting edge literature on the topic. Chapters covering placebo effects in analgesia and the psychology of pain give a thorough overview of cognitive, psychological and social influences on pain perception. Sections exploring pain in the lifecycle and in relation to nervous system disorders take particular relevance from a clinical point of view. Furthermore, an intellectually stimulating chapter analysing the co-morbidity of pain and depression provides a philosophical angle rarely presented in related handbooks. The references to external research databases and relevant websites aim to prompt readers to become critical and independent thinkers, and motivate them to carry out further reading on these topics. Introduction to Pain and its relation to Nervous System Disorders is essential reading for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students in neuroscience, medical and biomedical sciences, as well as for clinical and medical healthcare professionals involved in pain management.

This much anticipated collection of stories, written by Oxford University Fellow and Pain Scientist, Dr GL Moseley, provides an entertaining and informative way to understand modern pain biology. Described by critics as 'a gem' and by clinicians as 'entertaining and educative', Painful Yarns is a unique book. The stories, some of his travels in outback Australia, some of experiences growing up, are great yarns. At the end of each story, there is a section "so what has this got to do with pain?" in which Lorimer uses the story as a metaphor for some aspect of pain biology. The level of the pain education is appropriate for patients and health professionals. The entertainment is good for everyone. You don't have to be interested in pain to get something from this book and a laugh or two!

One of the Most Rapidly Advancing Fields in Modern Neuroscience The success of molecular biology and the new tools derived from molecular genetics have revolutionized pain research and its translation to therapeutic effectiveness. Bringing together recent advances in modern neuroscience regarding genetic studies in mice and humans and the practicality of clinical trials, Translational Pain Research: From Mouse to Man effectively bridges the gap between basic research and patient care by humanely examining rodent models for pain associated with bone cancer, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, and cardiac episodes. Distinguished Team of International Contributors In addition to addressing the groundbreaking technical advances in tract tracing, endocannabinoids, cannabis, gene therapy, siRNA gene studies, and the role of glia, cytokines, P2X receptors and ATP, this book also presents cutting-edge information on: Nociceptor sensitization Muscle nociceptors and metabolite detection Visceral afferents in disease Innovative rodent model for bone cancer pain Highly specific receptor cloning Modular molecular mechanisms relevant to painful neuropathies This sharply focused work also discusses unexpected discoveries derived from brain-imaging studies related to thalamic pain. Translational Pain Research covers the progress made toward bringing laboratory science (much of it at the molecular level) to our understanding of pain phenomena in humans, with the ultimate goal of reducing the suffering that often accompanies pain and its indirect consequences.

Everyone knows what is feels like to be in pain. Scraped knees, toothaches, migraines, giving birth, cancer, heart attacks, and heartaches: pain permeates our entire lives. We also witness other people - loved ones - suffering, and we 'feel with' them. It is easy to assume this is the end of the story: 'pain-is-pain-is-pain', and that is all there is to say. But it is not. In fact, the way in which people respond to what they describe as 'painful' has changed considerably over time. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, for example, people believed that pain served a specific (and positive) function - it was a message from God or Nature; it would perfect the spirit. 'Suffer in this life and you wouldn't suffer in the next one'. Submission to pain was required. Nothing could be more removed from twentieth and twenty-first century understandings, where pain is regarded as an unremitting evil to be 'fought'. Focusing on the English-speaking world, this book tells the story of pain since the eighteenth century, addressing fundamental questions about the experience and nature of suffering over the last three centuries. How have those in pain interpreted their suffering - and how have these interpretations changed over time? How have people learnt to conduct themselves when suffering? How do friends and family react? And what about medical professionals: should they immerse themselves in the suffering person or is the best response a kind of professional detachment? As Joanna Bourke shows in this fascinating investigation, people have come up with many different answers to these questions over time. And a history of pain can tell us a great deal about how we might respond to our own suffering in the present - and, just as importantly, to the suffering of those around us.