Abstract

Recent research has found stress reactions and the amount of pain a participant experiences may be linked. Pain for long periods of time can lead to high levels of stress which can be detrimental to one's health. Stress can also lead to higher pain levels. The present study examined the link between pain and stress through the use of the cold pressor task in a population of college students. There were three groups, a control group a group that watched a video of The College of Wooster and a group that watched a de-stressing video. I hypothesized that participants in the experimental group watching a de-stressing video would leave their dominant hand in the water longer, report their hand being uncomfortable after a longer period of time and would rate their pain lower than if they were not doing something to de-stress. There were no significant gender differences. It was found that the amount of time participants left their hand in the cold water across the three conditions was not statistically significant. Participants were asked to rate their pain, and this was found not to be statistically significant across the three conditions. The time in seconds participants reported their hand starting to feel uncomfortable was found to be trending across the three conditions. Distraction is very useful in pain management and de-stressing is also a great component for pain management. Distraction and de-stressing are two of the best non-medicinal practices used to manage pain. I believe with a higher N value effects would have been shown that the de-stressing group reported lower pain, left their hand in the cold water longer, and reported their hand being uncomfortable after a longer amount of time.

Advisor

Casey, Michael

Department

Psychology

Disciplines

Other Medical Specialties | Sports Medicine

Keywords

pain management, de-stressing, stress reduction

Publication Date

2020

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

Download

Share

COinS
 

© Copyright 2020 Elizabeth L. Carlson