As someone who spends a lot of their time looking at the brain, pain is something I have not spent enough time learning about. I believe the complexity of pain perception has always alienated me from this branch of neuroscience but I am glad to have learned the basics here. My mother has degenerative disc disease and suffers from chronic pain in her neck. I am developing the same back and neck problems because of the genetic nature of the disease. She is a counselor and has learned how to deal with her chronic pain and understands the bran circuits involved in the pain cycle. I believe this has helped her avoid the maladaptive ways people deal with chronic pain such as self-medication, avoidance of all possible threats (to a disordered degree), and from developing chronic anxiety. She instead chooses to do things that benefit her mentally and physically, such as regular yoga, meditation, and maintaining a healthy anti-inflammatory based diet. NOP receptors in the amygdala (aka ORL1, N/OFQ receptor), is a metabotropic receptor belonging in the opioid family. The gene said to encode these receptors has been identified on chromosome 20. Opioids could block the perception of this pain as they are also able to bind to these receptors. This is similar to how cocaine binds to dopamines receptor and amplifies the perception of accumulating dopamine in the synapse. The psychology of pain is fascinating and we always make sure to emphasize that psychological pain is just as real as physical pain. There is no perceptual difference between biologically produced pain and psychologically produced pain. This can lead to the over-activation of pain circuits in the brain through a process known as long-term potentiation. This allows the brains pain signals to be stronger with less stimulus. Our perception of pain is both in and out of our control which is one of the many factors that makes pain such a complicated topic.
Hey Mary,
I am sorry to hear about your mother's chronic pain and the onset of yours. It must give you an interesting perspective on this forum topic and this class. I thought it was especially interesting to learn about how perpetuated psychological pain can result in the over-activation of pain circuits to the brain. It reminds me of the experiment when scientists injected more nociceptin into rats and how the increase of the transmitter increases the amount of pain. Pain is a very complicated and interesting topic and I am very interested to see how studies in the connection between psychology and biology progress.
I am sorry to hear about your mother's chronic pain and the onset of yours. It must give you an interesting perspective on this forum topic and this class. I thought it was especially interesting to learn about how perpetuated psychological pain can result in the over-activation of pain circuits to the brain. It reminds me of the experiment when scientists injected more nociceptin into rats and how the increase of the transmitter increases the amount of pain. Pain is a very complicated and interesting topic and I am very interested to see how studies in the connection between psychology and biology progress.
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