Abstract
Cupping therapy has recently gained public attention and is widely used in many regions. Some patients are resistant to being treated with cupping therapy, as visually unpleasant marks on the skin may elicit negative reactions. This study aimed to identify the cognitive and emotional components of cupping therapy. Twenty-five healthy volunteers were presented with emotionally evocative visual stimuli representing fear, disgust, happiness, neutral emotion, and cupping, along with control images. Participants evaluated the valence and arousal level of each stimulus. Before the experiment, they completed the Fear of Pain Questionnaire-III. In two-dimensional affective space, emotional arousal increases as hedonic valence ratings become increasingly pleasant or unpleasant. Cupping therapy images were more unpleasant and more arousing than the control images. Cluster analysis showed that the response to cupping therapy images had emotional characteristics similar to those for fear images. Individuals with a greater fear of pain rated cupping therapy images as more unpleasant and more arousing. Psychophysical analysis showed that individuals experienced unpleasant and aroused emotional states in response to the cupping therapy images. Our findings suggest that cupping therapy might be associated with unpleasant-defensive motivation and motivational activation. Determining the emotional components of cupping therapy would help clinicians and researchers to understand the intrinsic effects of cupping therapy.
Highlights
Cupping therapy, one of the oldest documented medical techniques, is widely used in some regions, including China, India, Korea, the Middle East, and parts of Europe [1,2]
When valence ratings were plotted on the x-axis and arousal ratings on the y-axis, the quadratic relationship was stronger between the valence and arousal ratings
We demonstrated that cupping therapy images were regarded unpleasant and arousal-inducing than the control images
Summary
One of the oldest documented medical techniques, is widely used in some regions, including China, India, Korea, the Middle East, and parts of Europe [1,2]. The negative pressure induced by cupping therapy causes stretching of the skin and underlying tissue, and dilation of the capillaries [4,5]. This process induces enhanced microcirculation, tissue detoxification, and relief from painful muscle tension [6,7]. A systematic review suggested that cupping therapy might be beneficial for a variety of conditions, herpes zoster, acne, facial paralysis, and cervical spondylosis [8]. Most clinical trials have been of poor quality and have yielded no firm conclusions [6]
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