Covert conditioning and the control of pain.

Schmitt (1986) wrote three short stories about people in pain.

Each story shows how a therapist used covert conditioning.

The therapist asked the client to imagine scenes that made the pain feel smaller.

No numbers were given. The paper ends with a plea for more research.

The stories say covert conditioning helped.

One client pictured a warm beach and felt less pain.

Another used a mental stop sign when pain started.

But there are no scores, no graphs, and no control tests.

Rojahn et al. (1994) picked up the idea and ran a real test. They gave college students cold-water pain and taught them self-control skills. The students held their hands in the water longer and stayed calmer. This turns the 1986 idea into a working package you can teach.

Kaur et al. (2025) show that case-series designs like this one are now common. Their 2025 map of 76 studies proves that single-case pain work has grown since 1986.

Lord et al. (1997) looked at chronic pain patients and found that reinforcement history did not predict pain behaviors. This seems to clash with the 1986 focus on operant imagery. The gap is simple: the 1997 study measured what people do in daily life, while the 1986 paper trained a new skill. Both can be true.

You now have a 40-year trail from a spark to a toolkit. Start with covert imagery, add self-control drills, and test it like Rojahn et al. (1994). Track each client with single-case logic. You can build stronger pain programs today because the trail is clear.