LOCUS OF CONTROL ORIENTATION AND LEVEL - Drake University

the pain stimuli would be less susceptible to psychological influences a d
therefore may explain why significant differences in pain perception were not
found in this study.
Another explanation for the lack of significanm between the
classification of HLC and pain perception may be related to the fundamental
concept of control. Perhaps the acute pain experience after surgery may be a
situation over which no one, regardless of LOC, has a sense of control. Factors
such as the paternalistic relationship that continues to exist among patients and
their doctors, the novelty of the surgery experienced by most patients and the
nature weakening of defenses by illness may all contribute to a sense of
helplessness for surgical patients.
Finally, depression associated with chronic pain is another factor that
differentiates it from the acute pain experience. It seems that the externally
oriented person is more susceptible to depression as a result of chronic pain
(Ciccone & Grzesiak, 1984). This depression further debilitates the person's
sense of control and therefore would further differentiate the strategies utilized
to treat the person with an external LOC and a person with an internal
orientation. The element of depression likely does not apply to acute, short-
term pain.
Why then are the findings of differences in pain perception in the acute
pain experience of labor not seen in this study population? An understanding of
his phenomenon may be found by investigating Some of the other factors
determined to effet pain perception addressed in the review of literature. Other
known to influence the pain experience include a variety of