Pain is a common complaint that can interfere with daily life severely. Expectations play a crucial role in pain perception. It has been found that fear of pain interacts with these expectations....Show morePain is a common complaint that can interfere with daily life severely. Expectations play a crucial role in pain perception. It has been found that fear of pain interacts with these expectations. Research investigating the influence of fear of pain on pain perception is sparse. The aim of the present study is to investigate whether increased pain sensitivity can be induced by conditioning and verbal suggestion of negative expectations. Moreover, the study investigated if fear of pain could predict increased sensitivity to pain. Data of 27 healthy young adults (22 females) was used in this study. Participants received induction of negative expectations regarding electrical pain. Fear of pain was measured prior to the induction of electrical pain by using the minor pain subscale of the Fear of Pain Questionnaire III. Pain was electrically induced and measured by numerical pain rating scales. The participants were randomized into an experimental (induction of negative expectations) or a control group (expectations not manipulated). The results show that the experimental group scored higher on increased sensitivity to pain than the control group. Therefore, it can be concluded that an increased sensitivity to pain can be induced by a negative expectation learning procedure. This effect is strong and can have a strong negative effect on treatment outcomes. Furthermore, it has been found that fear of pain cannot predict nocebo hyperalgesia. This may relate to the healthy sample. It is important to investigate the relation of expectations, increased pain sensitivity and fear of pain. Doing so optimizes treatment and therefore prevents patients with chronic pain to experience increased pain.Show less
