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The following is a summary of “Change in Endogenous Pain Modulation Depending on Emotional States in Healthy Subjects: A Randomized Controlled Trial,” published in the August 2024 issue of Pain by Lang-Illievich et al.

Chronic pain, marked by prolonged discomfort, drives high healthcare costs and diminished QoL, with anxiety’s role in pain modulation well-studied, but the impact of other emotions on pain control remains underexplored.

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to explore different emotions such as happiness,anger,sadness and interest which affect conditioned pain modulation (CPM) and the wind-up phenomenon in healthy adults.

They studied RCTs involving 28 healthy participants aged 18-60. Individuals watched video clips designed to induce happiness, anger, sadness, and interest. Emotional states were rated on a 7-point Likert scale. The CPM assessed pain modulation, and the wind-up phenomenon was employed by hot water usage and pinprick stimulators. Data was analyzed with paired t-tests and compared pre- and post-emotion induced values.

The result showed significant changes in emotional self-assessment for all emotions. From all the feelings, happiness gained CPM (4.6 ± 11.4, P=0.04277), while sadness (− 9.9 ± 23.1,  P=0.03211) and anger (− 9.1 ± 23.3, P=0.04804) showed a decline. Interest significantly affected CPM (− 5.1 ± 25.8, P=0.31042). The wind-up phenomenon showed no effect across any emotional state. 

They concluded emotions influence pain modulation with a significant finding that happiness can boost pain inhibition, while sadness and anger can impair it with a new understanding which can inform and improve pain management strategies. 

 Source: link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40122-024-00642-1