Hospital

Grey Matter And Pain Tolerance: Why You Hurt More

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grey matter pain

Doctor! It hurts when I do this. OWEEEEEE. Well then grow some grey matter already! 
http://blog.chron.com/sciguy/2012/01/women-or-men-who-has-a-higher-pain-tolerance/

Our preconceptions of how much pain we can tolerate vary from person to person, but we’ve only just discovered that there is a biological role to play in pain tolerance. According to a recent study,

Highly sensitive individuals had the least grey matter density in the bilateral precuneus, posterior cingulate cortex, posterior parietal cortex, and left primary somatosensory cortex.

This might not mean much at first glance, but its content affects you more than you realize. The density of grey matter, the substance most of the human brain is made of, heavily influences a person’s tolerance for pain.

The study begs the question: Could all the hurt we experienced in the past have been more tolerable had we been someone else? Someone else with more grey matter in their noggin? Do I just give up and submit to the possibility of getting hurt and feeling it more intensely than others? Maybe. But at least you can now justify your pain with science. Good news is possible even in complete disappointment, right?

Now I am not talking about heartbreaks and sensual experiences or anything of that sort; I’m talking good ol’ wrestling hurt. The kind that you get when you step on a nail and it breaks the skin, the kind you experience only when you are drunk and in a shouting match with the bouncer. But most importantly the kind that makes you cringe and say: That’ll hurt in the morning. Yeehah!

Related: Power Posing Can Change Your World

It seems that pain tolerance has more to do with your brain’s grey matter than just your overall size and body build. A study was conducted by the lovely people at the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C., with the help of 116 volunteers, to prove this hypothesis on pain tolerance. The subjects were exposed to light pain while MRI’s were taken of their brain and its activity. It was found that those with a higher grey matter density in areas of the brain associated with internal thoughts and control of attention, were more resistant to pain than those with a lower grey matter density.

I guess the saying men are tougher than women, just does not apply in this instance. Finally people will understand why my girlfriend is so much tougher than me when it comes to actually going to the gym!

Related: Hairy Men Everywhere Rejoice!

So why exactly is this information useful? Well if you consider soldiers, for instance, and what they have to go through in the army, training and battles, we could potentially build a much stronger army and take over the world if we selectively breed and choose our soldiers. But really, there is some research that points to increasing grey matter density through practice and mindfulness meditation. So go for it; increase your pain tolerance and enjoy some meditation while you are at it. Otherwise, Cheers to World Domination!

 

Research:

Pain sensitivity is inversely related to regional grey matter density in the brain

Wake Forest Baptist Health

Mindfulness Practice leads to increases in regional brain grey matter density

Shambhala Sun – How to do Mindfulness Meditation

Wikipedia- New World Order

 

Wondergressive: Power Posing Can Change Your World

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Impossible to Distinguish the Sane From Insane

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One of the most important criticisms of psychiatric diagnosis is the Rosenhan experiment, which was an experiment orchestrated by David Rosenhan in 1973.  In these experiments, completely sane people faked hallucinations in order to gain access to mental hospitals in an attempt to show that “psychiatrists cannot reliably tell the difference between people who are sane and those who are insane.”

In the study, the fake patients, three women and five men, kept written records on how 12 different hospitals in 5 different states were generally operated and also how they were personally treated.

The experiments began by each of the fake students making appointments at the hospitals and describing voices and words that they heard in their heads.  They provided “a false name and job, but all other details they gave were true including general ups and downs of life, relationships, events of life history and so on.”

After being admitted to the hospital, they acted exactly as they would in the outside world, participating in activities and regularly talking to patients and hospital staff in a friendly, jovial manner.  They also immediately told the staff that they felt fine, and no longer heard voices or felt the slightest bit depressed.

The sane patients were in the hospitals for 7 to 52 days, with an average of 19 days of admittance.  Their objective: to be declared sane and get out of the hospitals by their own devices.  This is where things get interesting.

First, none of the patients were detected by the doctors or staff at the hospitals as being normal or sane, while many of the clinically insane patients spotted their sanity immediately.  In fact, 35 out of 118 patients publicly voiced thier suspicions regarding the fake patients.

Second, normal behavior was viewed as symptoms of their illness.  Writing notes on the staff (which they did openly as the staff took no interest in the subject matter of the writing) was considered ‘writing behavior,’ and showing up early for meals was labeled as “oral-acquisitive syndrome,” rather than simple boredom.

Here are the results of the staff’s behavior toward the fake patients:

Response Percentage making contact with patient
Psychiatrists Nurses
Moves on with head averted 71 88
Makes eye contact 23 10
Pauses and chats 2 4
Stops and talks 4 0.5

Next up, the researchers flipped the study on its head and lied to hospital staff, telling them that one or more sane patients would be admitted to the hospital.  The staff was to rate each patient on a 10-point scale as to the likelihood of them being a fake patient.
The results:

Number of patients judged 193
Number of patients confidently judged as pseudo patients by at least one staff member 41
Number of patients suspected by one psychiatrist 23
Number of patients suspected by one psychiatrist AND one other staff member 19

The psychiatrists at these hospitals failed miserably at recognizing insanity, as well as sanity.

Rosenhan notes that the “experience of hospitalization for the pseudo patients was one of depersonalisation and powerlessness. Powerlessness and depersonalisation were evident in the ways in which the patients were deprived of many human rights such as freedom of movement and privacy.  Medical records were open to all staff members regardless of status or therapeutic relationship with the patient and personal hygiene was monitored and many of the toilets did not have doors.  Some of the ward orderlies would be brutal to patients in full view of other patients but would stop as soon as another staff member approached.”

Anyone that has ever taken a look at the DSM knows what a joke modern day psychology and generalized labeling has become.  According to the DSM, everyone is clinically insane and requires very similar if not identical treatment.  As Rosenhan urged so long ago, “instead of labelling a person as insane we should focus on the individual’s specific problems and behaviours.”

We could also strip society of senseless laws and restrictions that halt progress and use something that has been proven to work.  Time tested, and safe, what could be better?

Psychiatrists Cannot Distinguish the Sane From Insane

/ esfein / 5 Comments

One of the most important criticisms of psychiatric diagnosis is the Rosenhan experiment, which was an experiment orchestrated by David Rosenhan in 1973.  In these experiments, completely sane people faked hallucinations in order to gain access to mental hospitals in an attempt to show that

psychiatrists cannot reliably tell the difference between people who are sane and those who are insane.

In the study, the fake patients, three women and five men, kept written records on how 12 different hospitals in 5 different states were generally operated and also how they were personally treated.

The experiments began by each of the fake patients making appointments at the hospitals and describing voices and words that they heard in their heads.  They provided

a false name and job, but all other details they gave were true including general ups and downs of life,  relationships, events of life history and so on.

After being admitted to the hospital, they acted exactly as they would in the outside world, participating in activities and regularly talking to patients and hospital staff in a friendly, jovial manner.  They also immediately told the staff that they felt fine, and no longer heard voices or felt the slightest bit depressed.

The sane patients were in the hospitals for 7 to 52 days, with an average of 19 days of admittance.  Their objective: to be declared sane and get out of the hospitals by their own devices.  This is where things get interesting…

First, none of the patients were detected by the doctors or staff at the hospitals as being normal or sane, while many of the clinically insane patients spotted their sanity immediately.  In fact, 35 out of 118 patients publicly voiced their suspicions regarding the fake patients.

Second, normal behavior was viewed as symptoms of their illness.  Writing notes on the staff (which they did openly as the staff took no interest in the subject matter of the writing) was considered ‘writing behavior,’ and showing up early for meals was labeled as ‘oral-acquisitive syndrome,’ rather than simple boredom.

Here are the results of the staff’s behavior toward the fake patients:

Response Percentage making contact with patient
Psychiatrists Nurses
Moves on with head averted 71 88
Makes eye contact 23 10
Pauses and chats 2 4
Stops and talks 4 0.5

Next up, the researchers flipped the study on its head and lied to hospital staff, telling them that one or more sane patients would be admitted to the hospital.  The staff was to rate each patient on a 10-point scale as to the likelihood of them being a fake patient.
The results:

Number of patients judged 193
Number of patients confidently judged as pseudo patients by at least one staff member 41
Number of patients suspected by one psychiatrist 23
Number of patients suspected by one psychiatrist AND one other staff member 19

The psychiatrists at these hospitals failed miserably at even remotely being able to tell the difference between sanity and insanity.

Rosenhan notes that the

experience of hospitalization for the pseudo patients was one of depersonalisation and powerlessness. Powerlessness and depersonalisation were evident in the ways in which the patients were deprived of many human rights such as freedom of movement and privacy.  Medical records were open to all staff members regardless of status or therapeutic relationship with the patient and personal hygiene was monitored and many of the toilets did not have doors.  Some of the ward orderlies would be brutal to patients in full view of other patients but would stop as soon as another staff member approached.

Anyone that has ever taken a look at the DSM knows what a joke modern day psychology and generalized labeling has become.  According to the DSM, everyone is clinically insane and requires very similar if not identical treatment.  As Rosenhan urged so long ago,

instead of labeling a person as insane we should focus on the individual’s specific problems and behaviours.

We could also strip society of senseless laws and restrictions that halt progress and use something that has been proven to work.  Time tested, and safe, what could be better?

 

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosenhan_experiment

http://www.bonkersinstitute.org/rosenhan.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diagnostic_and_Statistical_Manual_of_Mental_Disorders

http://www.wakingtimes.com/2012/09/26/can-lsd-help-cure-depression/

https://wondergressive.com/2012/09/14/the-benefits-of-psilocybin-magic-mushrooms/