Background: Applying pain reduction techniques is an essential right for all patients. The present study was conducted to determine the efficacy of thought aversion technique on pain severity of patients with acute abdomen.

Materials and methods: For this clinical trial, 50 patients admitted to the surgical unit of hospitals affiliated to Mashad University of Medical Sciences were consecutively selected. Initial data were gathered by a questionnaire.

 Results: Totally, 62% of patients had experienced sever pain before our intervention, of whom, 58% described moderate pain following the thought aversion technique. The mean pain score was reduced from 7.88 to 4.38 following the intervention. Patients admitted for herniorraphy took benefit much more than the other groups (mean 4.14±0.90), however, this technique was not associated with satisfactory out come in patients underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Conclusion: Thought aversion technique is associated with satisfactory results in pain reduction of patients undergoing surgery.