Self-distancing and Pain: Can Different Thinking Strategies Affect the Perception of Short-lasting and Long-lasting, Persistent Pain?

Physical pain leads to a narrow, egocentric focus on the self, in the here and now, particularly when experienced at high intensity levels. When long-term pain is experienced, this narrow focus could be debilitating, since attention to the pain itself may increase its perceived intensity and it could increase negative emotional processes that further contribute to pain-related suffering. One way of overcoming this could be by adopting a more distant view of oneself and the pain, thereby making the pain more abstract. An established way of creating distance is by reflecting on the self, using one's own name and second or third-person singular pronouns, so called third-person self-talk. Earlier research has reported that a psychologically distant perspective could reduce emotional distress when reflecting on negative experiences, reduce feelings of anger after provocation and lead to lower blood pressure. Self-distancing should thus help people mentally reconstrue their pain experience and possibly make the pain signals less cognitively salient.

In the first part of this study, which will be the first registered on ClinicalTrials.gov, we will experimentally induce pain in healthy participants (N = 292) with a cold pressor apparatus. The cold pressor apparatus holds a constant water temperature of 1 degree Celsius, which creates pain in the immersed hand. At the experimental test session, the participant will first be comfortably seated and receive information about the task and the experimental pain induction. They will be instructed to withhold their hand in the cold water for as long as possible, but when they feel that the pain becomes too intense they can choose to remove their hand. After that, a blood pressure measurement will be conducted. Directly after that, the participant will be instructed to put their hand in the cold water-bath (the cold pressor apparatus), and when they put their hand in the cold water a new blood pressure measurement will be conducted. A timer will be started to measure the time in seconds that the participant is able to keep their hand in the cold water. While their hand is in the cold water-bath, the participant will conduct one of the four different interventions (self-distanced, third-person self-talk following a cue-card; self-immersed, first-person self-talk following a cue-card; distraction intervention following a cue-card; no intervention (control)). When the participant removes their hand from the cold water-bath, the time in seconds will be noted and they will immediately be asked to estimate their pain on a Numerical Rating Scale. A short debriefing will conclude the session.