Perceived self-efficacy in coping with cognitive stressors and opioid activation.

Abstract

This experiment tested the hypothesis that perceived self-inefficacy in exercising control over cognitive stressors activates endogenous opioid systems. Subjects performed mathematical operations under conditions in which they could exercise full control over the cognitive task demands or in which the cognitive demands strained or exceeded their cognitive capabilities. Subjects with induced high perceived self-efficacy exhibited little stress, whereas those with induced low perceived self-efficacy experienced a high level of stress and autonomic arousal. Subjects were then administered either an inert saline solution or naloxone, an opiate antagonist that blocks the analgesic effects of endogenous opiates, whereupon their level of pain tolerance was measured. The self-efficacious nonstressed subjects gave no evidence of opioid activation. The self-inefficacious stressed subjects were able to withstand increasing amounts of pain stimulation under saline conditions. However, when endogenous opioid mechanisms that control pain were blocked by naloxone, the subjects were unable to bear much pain stimulation. This pattern of changes suggests that the stress-induced analgesia found under the saline condition was mediated by endogenous opioid mechanisms and counteracted by the opiate antagonist. There is a growing body of evidence that the ability to exercise control over potential stressors is a critical factor in the activation of different neurophysiological systems. Exposure to stressors without controlling efficacy activates neurotransmitters, stress-related hormones, and impairs various cellular components of the immune function (Bandura, Taylor, Williams, Mefford, & Barchas, 1985; Coe & Levine, in press; Maier, Laudenslager, & Ryan, 1985). Exposure to the same stressful events with controlling efficacy has few neurochemical effects. These findings are based mainly on experimentation with animals involving uncontrollable physical stressors. Stressors take diverse forms and can produce different patterns of physiological activation. This places certain limitations on extrapolation of conclusions across species and stressors. Research into the neurochemical effects of inefficacious control therefore needs to be broadened and extended to events and psychological processes that have high ecological relevance to human coping. Uncontrollable physical stressors are not only stressful, but also inflict some physical trauma that can activate a variety of complicating physiological processes. Most of the important stressors with which humans have to cope involve

The Effect of Subcutaneous Naloxone on Experimentally Induced Pain

“…In animal studies, central opioid-mediated analgesia develops during prolonged stress, 10 particularly when the stress is inescapable. 5,19 Similarly, experimentally induced stress evokes opioid analgesia in healthy humans, 3,20,[41][42][43] and may have induced a similar response during lengthy immersions in the present study. Alternatively, naloxone may have acted peripherally on opioid receptors in the non-immersed hand.…”

“…1,38 In rodents, stressful procedures such as electric shocks and cold-water swims can evoke central opioid-mediated analgesia. 34,35 In humans, the opiate receptor antagonist naloxone has been shown to block analgesia following cognitive stress, 3 anticipation of painful foot shock, [41][42][43] and the immersion of one foot in ice-water. 20 Naloxone also augmented thermal hyperalgesia induced by the topical application of capsaicin.…”

“…The pain and distress evoked by the coldwater immersions might activate opioid-sensitive pain modulation processes in the central nervous system. 3,20,34,35,[41][42][43] In addition, cold-water immersions could accelerate the local release of endogenous opioids from immune cells. [26][27][28][30][31][32][33] If so, this should reduce sensitivity to noxious stimulation in the immersed hand relative to the contralateral hand.…”

Analgesia to pressure–pain develops in the ipsilateral forehead after high- and low-frequency electrical stimulation of the forearm

“…Despite these differences, sensitivity to blunt pressure decreased across the forehead for at least an hour after both forms of conditioning, implying activation of descending pain-inhibitory mechanisms such as diffuse noxious inhibitory controls (Villanueva and Le Bars 1995) and/or stress-induced analgesia (Bandura et al 1988;Janssen et al 1998). Importantly, analgesia to pressure-pain was greater on the ipsilateral than contralateral side of the forehead not only after HFS (Vo and Drummond 2013b, a) but also after LFS, suggesting that an inhibitory influence extended hemilaterally after both forms of electrical stimulation.…”

Painful effects of auditory startle, forehead cooling and psychological stress in patients with fibromyalgia or rheumatoid arthritis

“…Although the mechanism of this analgesic response is uncertain, it is interesting to draw parallels with normal opioid-mediated increases in pain tolerance when stress is perceived to be uncontrollable [16]. Thus, stressful laboratory tasks might augment pain only in association with depression in arthritic patients.…”