



Images to Reduce Pain

from EmbodiCog



Staring at peaceful scenes of nature creates a calming, pain-reducing effect in viewers. According to studies:

The researchers measured the levels of pain felt and found that those subjected to the peacefulness of nature experienced less pain.



The findings prove that it is not necessary just to distract a patient to alleviate pain but that the distraction must have a calming effect.



It also gives hope to sufferers who have tried other techniques which have failed to reduce pain, such as hypnosis or sedation. Studies like this one continue to implicate the calming effects of Mother Nature on human nature. The potential impact of this research on pain management requires further clarification. For the time being, selected here is a collection of images assembled to fit the critera of pain reduction.



Chronic sufferers:

Test the effects of these nine pain-reducing nature scenes.



Also:

Religious images of the Virgin Mary have been found to reduce pain in Catholics: "Roman Catholics felt less pain than atheists and agnostics when they were shown a painting of the Virgin Mary." The assembled collection here also includes a picture of the Virgin Mary.



Finally:

Viewing pictures of a romantic partner has also been found to reduce pain, but personal images of romantic partners could not be included here, for obvious reasons.







REFERENCES



The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 16 (9), 965-972 DOI: Lechtzin, N., Busse, A., Smith, M., Grossman, S., Nesbit, S., & Diette, G. (2010). A Randomized Trial of Nature Scenery and Sounds Versus Urban Scenery and Sounds to Reduce Pain in Adults Undergoing Bone Marrow Aspirate and Biopsy(9), 965-972 DOI: 10.1089/acm.2009.0531



PLoS ONE, 5 (10) DOI: Younger, J., Aron, A., Parke, S., Chatterjee, N., & Mackey, S. (2010). Viewing Pictures of a Romantic Partner Reduces Experimental Pain: Involvement of Neural Reward Systems(10) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0013309



PAIN, 139 (2), 467-476 DOI: Wiech, K., Farias, M., Kahane, G., Shackel, N., Tiede, W., & Tracey, I. (2008). An fMRI study measuring analgesia enhanced by religion as a belief system(2), 467-476 DOI: 10.1016/j.pain.2008.07.030



Picture Source:

Pixabay Nature Art