Operant Conditioning Techniques

Working with chronic pain patients is no easy matter, because countless factors may unintentionallu reinforce the pain. For example, talking about pain focuses attention on it. Anxiety also tends to increase the pserception of pain, which further increases the anxiety, which further increases the pain. Often, a patient learns inappropriate behaviors, such as inactivity, that then come to be associated with the pain. Contrary, to popular belief, an increase in activity and exercise can be beneficial. Exercise releases endorphind, the chemicals that attach themselves to nerve cells in the brain and block the perception of pain. Pain patients, however, tend to decrease their sctivity levels and stop exercising altogether. Wll-meaning friends and relatives reinforce this inactivity by doing things for the patients when they complain. In this way, patients can become operantly conditioned to inactivity and other disadvantageous behaviors, such as complaining about their pain, by being reinforced for them. In such cases, psychologists may initiate a behavior modification program not only for the patiens but also for their families and friends.

Cains and Pasino (1977) conducted the first controlled study on the effectiveness of operant conditioning techniques in the treatment of chronic pain. They provided reinforcement by congratulating pain patients when they followed through with their pain treatment programs (daily exercise, use of relaxation techniques, and so on) snf by charting their adherence to the program. The researchers found that both techniques were effective in reducing the subjective pain experienced by their patients. Thus, amny pain control programs now incorporate an operant conditioning component, in which patients are reinforced for carrying through with changes that result in “well behaviors”.