|
|
Article: Can psychological distress be detected by response to a needle stick?(Clinical report)
- Article from:
- Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings
- Article date:
- January 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 The Baylor University Medical Center. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
The purpose of this study was to determine whether an exaggerated response to a mildly painful stimulus would reflect abnormal levels of psychological distress in patients and, conversely, whether patients who show abnormal levels of psychological distress would have a low tolerance for a mildly painful stimulus. A total of 101 patients were given a mildly painful stimulus (30-gauge needle stick) and asked to record the amount of pain they felt on a scale of 0 to 10 (0 = no pain, 10 = severe pain). The mean response to the needle stick was a 1.9 on this scale. There was no gender difference, and the average did not change with increasing age. Psychological testing showed ...