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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Sep 1.
Published in final edited form as: Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2016 Jun 16;68:537–546. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.06.020

Figure 3. Parent-Child Feedback Loop.

Figure 3

A child in chronic pain sends verbal and nonverbal cues to his/her parent through the forward-feed pathway that is interpreted through the parent's constitutional make-up, comprised of prior stressful life experiences and ongoing daily stressors, among other elements. This sets the stage for parent empathic behavior that can go in one of two directions: cogent decision-making with calm responding or impaired decision-making with anxious reacting. The behavior of the parent is observed by the child (observational learning) and is the backward feed of the loop.