Ronald Melzack

Ronald Melzack

Ronald Melzack (born July 19, 1929, Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian psychologist.

After studying for his Ph.D. in 1954 with D. O. Hebb at McGill University in Montreal, he began to work with patients who suffered from "phantom limb" pain — people who feel pain in an arm or leg that has been removed. He found that pain often has little survival value, and some pains are entirely out of proportion to the degree of tissue damage, sometimes continuing long after injured tissues have healed. While still a postdoctoral student, Melzack began collecting "pain words" and putting them into classes that belonged together, like "hot," "burning," "scalding," and "searing".

In 1975, this pursuit led to the development of the McGill Pain Questionnaire, now used in pain clinics and cancer hospices around the world. In 1965 at MIT, Melzack with his colleague Patrick David Wall developed the gate control theory of pain which states that pain is "gated" or modulated by past experience. Gate control theory led to the valuable discovery of endorphins and enkephalins, the body’s natural opiates.

Melzack's recent research at McGill indicates that there are two types of pain, transmitted by two separate sets of pain-signaling pathways in the central nervous system. Sudden, short-term pain, such as the pain of cutting a finger, is transmitted by a group of pathways that Melzack calls the "lateral" system, because they pass through the brain stem on one side of its central core. Prolonged pain, on the other hand, such as chronic back pain, is transmitted by the "medial" system, whose neurons pass through the central core of the brain stem.

Melzack is the author of several textbooks on pain, and is co-editor of "Handbook of Pain Assessment", 1992. He has also published books of Inuit stories and won the Canada Council Molson Prize in 1985. In 1995, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2000, he was made an Officer of the National Order of Quebec.

:"The original version of this article was based on an article [http://www.science.ca/scientists/scientistprofile.php?pID=199] from [http://www.science.ca science.ca] ."

:" [http://www.psych.ualberta.ca/~gcpws/Melzack/Melzack.html Great Canadian Psychology Website - Ronald Melzack Biography] "


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Ronald Melzack — est chercheur et médecin québécois né à Montréal en 1929. Lui et son collègue Patrick Wall sont les auteurs de la théorie du portillon sur la modulation de la douleur. Honneurs 1982 Membre de la Société royale du Canada 1985 Prix Molson 1994 Prix …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Pain — This article is about physical pain. For pain in the broader sense, see Suffering. For other uses, see Pain (disambiguation). Pain A sports player in pain. ICD 10 R52 …   Wikipedia

  • Membre Fantôme — CIM 10 : G54.6 G54.7 Pour les articles homonymes, voir Fantôme (homonymie). Le terme membre fantôme désigne le fait qu une personne amputée d un membre en ressente encore la présence, le plus souvent de façon douloureuse …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Membre fantome — Membre fantôme Membre fantôme CIM 10 : G54.6 G54.7 Pour les articles homonymes, voir Fantôme (homonymie). Le terme membre fantôme désigne le fait qu une personne amputée d un membre en ressente encore la présence, le plus souvent de façon… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Membre fantôme — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Fantôme (homonymie). Membre fantôme Classification et ressources externes CIM 10 G54.6 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Membres fantomes — Membre fantôme Membre fantôme CIM 10 : G54.6 G54.7 Pour les articles homonymes, voir Fantôme (homonymie). Le terme membre fantôme désigne le fait qu une personne amputée d un membre en ressente encore la présence, le plus souvent de façon… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Membres fantômes — Membre fantôme Membre fantôme CIM 10 : G54.6 G54.7 Pour les articles homonymes, voir Fantôme (homonymie). Le terme membre fantôme désigne le fait qu une personne amputée d un membre en ressente encore la présence, le plus souvent de façon… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Phantom limb — For other uses, see Phantom limb (disambiguation). Phantom limb Classification and external resources ICD 10 G54.6 G54.7 ICD …   Wikipedia

  • Scientific theories regarding acupuncture — Scientific studies have been conducted concerning the hypothesized principles underlying the proposed mechanism of action of acupuncture. Nerve reflex theoryThe nerve reflex theory (developed by Ishikawa and Fujita et al. in the 1950s) proposed… …   Wikipedia

  • Gate control theory of pain — The gate control theory of pain, put forward by Ronald Melzack (a Canadian psychologist) and Patrick David Wall (a British physician) in 1962, [P.D. Wall, R. Melzack, On nature of cutaneous sensory mechanisms, Brain, 85:331, 1962.] and again in… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”