Pain – Melzack & Wall (1965) Gate Control Theory

Malzeck & Wall’s Theory of Pain (1965) What opens the gate? Physical Factors Bodily injury Emotional Factors Anxiety & Depression Behavioural Factors Attending to the injury & concentrating on the pain

Malzeck & Wall’s Theory of Pain (1965) What Closes the Gate? Physical Pain Analgesic Remedies Emotional Pain Being in a ‘good’ mood Behavioural Factors Concentrating on things other than the injury

Malzeck & Wall’s Theory of Pain (1965) What else closes the gate? Friction – when you rub a part of your body it causes friction, friction signals compete with pain signals to pass through the gate, if both signals are trying to get through, the friction signal will make it first. Sexual intercourse is intense friction with lots of nerve endings and will be a good pain reliver.

Past Experience of Pain Beecher (1946 & 1956) looked at requests for pain relief amongst soldiers and compared these to the request made by civilians with the same injuries. Most of the soldiers claimed not to perceive any pain and only a quarter of them requested pain relief. 80% of civilians asked for analgesic support. Beecher argued that the context in which the pain was experienced had an impact on the way in which it was perceived.