Standardized Pain Stimulation as Controlled Stress in Physiological Studies of Psychoneurosis

Abstract

Mental patients undergoing stress are more sensitive to pain than controls of the same age and sex. For this study, 10 psychiatric patients were matched against 10 controls selected from the medical personnel. All were subjected to an equal amt. of anxiety by the hour''s examination which consisted of pain stimulation produced by heat from a light, skin resistance recording, recordings of finger movements, eeg., and lymphocyte counts. Results indicate that mental patients under stress over-react to pain, and this examination may profitably be employed for further study of psychiatric patients.