The emotional perception of phantom limb pain
pp. 55-69
in: Simon van Rysewyk (ed), Meanings of pain, Berlin, Springer, 2016Abstrakt
Chronic pain is a continuous learning state in which aversive emotional meanings are continuously associated with incidental events. In this chapter, I define "emotion" as an integrated neurobiological and functional adaptive process capable of generating physiological and experiential changes in constant interaction with neural systems and the external environment. The interaction of internal (neuronal) and external (environmental) dynamic networks may modulate the intensity and the experiential qualities of chronic pain, including its meaning and perception. Phantom-limb pain might be associated with an increased functional correlation of brain regions involved in the processing and integration of sensory, emotional, cognitive and socio-cultural components. The distinction between sensation and perception is essential for understanding the complexity of the neuro-mental processes of chronic pain, including phantom-limb pain. In the mental representation of phantom limb pain, body-perception may contribute to the development of an emotional and neuro-mental circuit in the brain leading to pain, which may elicit chronic phantom-limb pain.