An fMRI study measuring analgesia enhanced by religion as a belief system

Wiech, Katja; Farias, Miguel; Kahane, Guy; Shackel, Nicholas; Tiede, Wiebke; Tracey, Irene

doi:10.1016/j.pain.2008.07.030

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Volume 139, Issue 2 , Pages 467-476, 15 October 2008

An fMRI study measuring analgesia enhanced by religion as a belief system

Katja Wiech
- Nuffield Department of Anaesthetics, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headley Way, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
- Oxford Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain (FMRIB Centre), Department of Clinical Neurology, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headley Way, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
- Corresponding author. Address: Oxford Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain (FMRIB Centre), Department of Clinical Neurology, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headley Way, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK. Tel.: +44 1865 22488; fax: +44 1865 222717.
Miguel Farias
- Ian Ramsey Centre, Theology Faculty, University of Oxford, Bevington Road, Oxford OX2 6NB, UK
- Psychology and Religion Research Group, Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge, West Road, Cambridge CB3 9BS, UK
Guy Kahane
- Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Nicholas Shackel
- Oxford Future of Humanity Institute, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Wiebke Tiede
- Oxford Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain (FMRIB Centre), Department of Clinical Neurology, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headley Way, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
Irene Tracey
- Nuffield Department of Anaesthetics, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headley Way, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
- Oxford Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain (FMRIB Centre), Department of Clinical Neurology, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headley Way, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK

Received 13 April 2008; received in revised form 23 June 2008; accepted 23 July 2008. published online 09 September 2008.

Abstract

Although religious belief is often claimed to help with physical ailments including pain, it is unclear what psychological and neural mechanisms underlie the influence of religious belief on pain. By analogy to other top-down processes of pain modulation we hypothesized that religious belief helps believers reinterpret the emotional significance of pain, leading to emotional detachment from it. Recent findings on emotion regulation support a role for the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC), a region also important for driving top-down pain inhibitory circuits. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging in practicing Catholics and avowed atheists and agnostics during painful stimulation, here we show the existence of a context-dependent form of analgesia that was triggered by the presentation of an image with a religious content but not by the presentation of a non-religious image. As confirmed by behavioral data, contemplation of the religious image enabled the religious group to detach themselves from the experience of pain. Critically, this context-dependent modulation of pain specifically engaged the right VLPFC, whereas group-specific preferential liking of one of the pictures was associated with activation in the ventral midbrain. We suggest that religious belief might provide a framework that allows individuals to engage known pain-regulatory brain processes.

Keywords: Pain, fMRI, Cognitive, Modulation, Prefrontal cortex, Analgesia, Religion