Acute effects of transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation on self-injurious behavior

Linn, Dorothy M.; Rojahn, Johannes; Helsel, William J.; Dixon, Joanne

doi:10.1007/bf01098251

Cited by 7 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 16 publications

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“…Our study challenges the previously held categorical lines of what is "healthy" and "unhealthy" when it comes to coping, and carries treatment implications for populations who engage in dangerous forms of regulatory pain, such as self-harming behavior. For example, a previous study found that electrical stimulation similar to that used in the present study is effective in reducing self-injurious behavior (Linn, Rojahn, Helsel, & Dixon, 1988), though this outcome has not been subsequently tested or applied clinically. Such findings carry promising implications for improving medical and psychological treatment using novel techniques that harness the helpful aspects of pain without the risk of injury.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Hurts so good: Pain as an emotion regulation strategy.

Doukas

D’Andrea

Gregory

et al. 2020

Emotion

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In the field of emotion regulation studies, cognitive reappraisal has been established as the preferred strategy for coping with painful negative feelings. For some, however, asking them to think more about an already distressing situation can be quite literally "like pulling teeth." Indeed, many people voluntarily cause themselves physical pain during upsetting situations (e.g., getting a deep tissue massage after a stressful week or hitting a punching bag when angry); however, there is currently little empirical evidence of the relative effectiveness of such behaviors. The present study tested two primary hypotheses: (a) some people will choose to inflict pain to regulate negative emotional states; and (b) pain provides effective short-term relief from negative emotion. The findings from these two studies demonstrate that, given the opportunity, participants will choose to use physical pain in addition to other strategies, like reappraisal or distraction, to cope with various sources of negative emotion. We further show that physical sensation in general, and pain in particular, are equally effective in coping with negative emotion. These results suggest a reconsideration of the dominance of cognitively based emotion regulation. We discuss the implication that benign physical pain may be a broadly effective and underrecognized coping strategy.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%