  In this work, one proposes the use of a damped confinement potential to mimic
the proton internal energy. The internal pressure is calculated taking into
account the occurrence of a phase transition in the $pp$ and $\bar{p}p$ total
cross section. The model predicts the inversion of the positive and negative
pressure regions depending on the squared energy $s_0$, where the total cross
section achieves its minimum value. Considering energies below the phase
transition the expected results are in accordance with the recent proton
internal pressure measurement. For energies above $s_0$, the model predicts a
negative pressure region near the center of the hadron surrounded by a positive
pressure region.
