Effect of an analgesic drug (paralgin forte) upon laboratory pain under different cognitive manipulations: an...

The pain-reducing effects of paralgin forte (under double-blind conditions) were studied under 3 different experimental conditions: 1) neutral instructions; subjects were given some information about the kind of unpleasant experience/pain involved in the experiment, 2) positive instructions; subjects were informed that the experiment did not involve painful experiences, and 3) negative instructions; subjects were informed that the experiment involved relatively severe pain. Both positive and negative instructions produced significant pain-reducing effects. With regards to paralgin forte, neither pain-reducing effects nor significant differences between paralgin forte and placebo were found. There was no interaction effect between drug and instruction variables. It is concluded that the instruction factors were effective in pain reduction in this experiment.