Principal Investigator and Team
Prof. Dr. Tanja Hechler
Luca Schaan, M.Sc.
Prof. Dr. Silvia Schneider
Dr. Dirk Adolph
Piotr Gruszka, Mag.
Collaborator
Dr. Christiane Panné-Farré
Dr. Christoph Benke
Funding
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SCHN 415/5-1)
Duration
September 2015 – September 2018
Description Chronic pain disorders in adolescents are highly
disabling and a significant health problem. Increasing research evidence
underlines the importance of interoceptive processes, especially in the
aetiology of headache and abdominal pain. We study whether the anticipation,
perception or imagery of innocuous interoceptive sensations can elicit defence
response mobilization in adolescents (11 to 18 years) with chronic headache
(n=40), abdominal pain (n=40) and healthy controls (n=40). Based on the
proximity hypothesis, it is hypothesized that stimuli from the same body region
(proximal) are more likely to evoke defence response mobilization than stimuli
from distal body regions. Responses are measured using a multimodal assessment
approach consisting of self-report and peripheral physiological reactivity,
including skin conductance level, heart rate and startle potentiation.
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