Parents may be unwittingly increasing child's pain and distress levels

A psychologist from the National University of Ireland, Galway has warned parents that their approach to their child's wellbeing may have an negative effect on their ill or injured child's recovery.

Dr. Line Caes of the School of Psychology and the Centre for Pain Research at NUI Galway has urged parents to assess their response when their child is unwell or injured on the grounds that their response may in fact increase distress or pain levels for the little one.

According to the psychologist, there exists two main categories when dealing with child illness or injury, one is considered the protective response while the other focuses on distracting the child from the pain.

Dr. Caes asserts that parents who focus too much on the source of the pain may hinder their child's recovery.

Commenting on the findings, Dr. Caes said: "We see that those protective responses parents automatically engage in actually lead to more pain and distress in the child, while the coping promoting responses like distracting and talking about something else make a child feel less distress in a situation."