Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 14, 2025

A Preterm Rat Model for Pain Studies
Published on: February 9, 2024
[Long-term consequences of aversive childhood experiences: effects on pain processing]
Susan Pfister1, Vanessa Bürgy1, En-Young Wagner1
1Kompetenzbereich Psychosomatische Medizin, Universitätsklinik für Neurologie, Inselspital Bern.
Abstract:
Long-term consequences of aversive childhood experiences: effects on pain processing Abstract. Childhood experiences of stress due to neglect, physical, psychological or sexual abuse often lead to lasting changes in pain processing. Clinically, this is shown, among other things, in an increased sensitivity to pain, a stronger negative-affective connotation of pain and ultimately an increased risk of pain disorders in adulthood. George L. Engel already postulated in the 1960s a child's experience of stress can affect later pain behaviors. This narrative review sets out to summarize the current state of knowledge.
Related Concept Videos
Analgesia and Pain Management
Pain
Nociception
Avoidance Learning and Learned Helplessness
Avoidance learning occurs when an organism learns that a specific behavior can prevent an unpleasant outcome. For example, a student who receives a bad grade may start studying harder to avoid future poor grades. This behavior persists even when the negative outcome is no longer present. Avoidance learning is powerful because it maintains behavior in the absence of the...
Conditioned Taste Aversion
A notable characteristic of conditioned taste aversion is that it often requires only a single...
Traumatic Memory

