A study has been performed on the use of imagination in children as a pain blocker. Whilst not directly connected with VR in pain relief itself, the results do serve to reinforce the position that diverting the child's attention elsewhere during a procedure, utterly diverting it and holding that diversion, is successful in removing the effect of pain.

The study was published in the the November 2009 issue of the journal Paediatrics. The lead author is Miranda van Tilburg, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Division of Gastroenterology and Herpetology in the UNC School of Medicine and a member of the UNC Centre for Functional GI & Motility Disorders.

"What is especially exciting about our study is that children can clearly reduce their abdominal pain a lot on their own with guidance from audio recordings, and they get much better results that way than from medical care alone," said van Tilburg. "Such self-administered treatment is, of course, very inexpensive and can be used in addition to other treatments, which potentially opens the door for easily enhancing treatment outcomes for a lot of children suffering from frequent stomach aches."

The study focused on functional abdominal pain, defined as persistent pain with no identifiable underlying disease that interferes with activities. It is very common, affecting up to 20 percent of children. Prior studies have found that behavioural therapy and guided imagery (a treatment method similar to self-hypnosis) are effective, when combined with regular medical care, to reduce pain and improve quality of life. But for many children behavioural therapy is not available because it is costly, takes a lot of time and requires a highly trained therapist.

For this study, 34 children ages 6 to 15 years old who had been diagnosed with functional abdominal pain by a physician were recruited to participate by paediatric gastroenterologists at UNC Hospitals and Duke University Medical Centre. All received standard medical care and 19 were randomised to receive eight weeks of guided imagery treatment. A total of 29 children finished the study; 15 in the guided imagery plus medical treatment group and 14 in the medical treatment alone group.

The study concluded that guided imagery treatment plus medical care was superior to standard medical care alone for the treatment of functional abdominal pain, and that treatment effects were sustained over a long period.

References

Children Can Greatly Reduce Abdominal Pain By Using Their Imagination