Practical Applications of Psychological Techniques in Controlling Burn Pain

Psychological techniques can serve as useful adjuncts to opioid drugs in the control of pain from severe burns. The lack of research on the use of such interventions may reflect our failure to realize how often we apply psychological principles in everyday management of burn pain. Psychological techniques with burn pain can be divided into cognitive (avoidant and reappraisal), preparatory (sensory and procedural), behavioral (respondent and operant), and hypnotherapy categories. The manner in which each of these types of interventions can be applied to patients in the burn unit is discussed.