title: Psychological aspects of components of pain.
abstract: The present study investigated the inhibitory effects of acupuncture on the separate sensory and emotional components of pain and their relation to each other. Electro-acupuncture as practiced in China was applied to the same nerve used for initiating pain, and the responses of 9 adult volunteers (5 males, 4 females) were assessed. The results indicate that (a) pain involves at least two related but different components (the sensory component and the emotional component) and (b) electro-acupuncture has a stronger inhibitory effect on the emotional component of pain. The findings provide a new outlook for the improvement of the clinical effects of acupuncture and for further study of the pain mechanism.
mesh_terms: D015670:Acupuncture Therapy / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology*; D000328:Adult; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009433:Neural Inhibition; D010146:Pain / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D059408:Pain Management; D012684:Sensory Thresholds; D013497:Sural Nerve / Q000503:physiopathology