Pain isn’t simply a medical issue—it's psychological and social, too.
Rachel Zoffness Ph.D. writes in Psychology Today what pain really means and the impact of other elements on pain sensation.
"Good or bad news first? ...Since good news soothes the bad, let’s go with the bad news first: According to a recent article in the British Journal of Medicine, the U.S. currently faces twin pain-and-opioid crises (Mackey & Kao, 2019). Chronic pain (CP), pain lasting three or more months or beyond expected healing time, is an epidemic currently affecting over 100 million American adults—more than diabetes, heart disease, and cancer combined—at an estimated cost of $635 billion (IOM, 2011).
CP can interrupt life, impeding the ability to work, exercise, have sex, engage in hobbies, or even go outside. It’s the number-one cause of long-term disability in the U.S. (NIH, 2011). As if this wasn’t bad enough, we now find ourselves in the midst of an opioid crisis—what the U.S. Department of Health calls “the most daunting and complex public health challenge of our time.”
One reason we find ourselves in this pickle is that pain has historically been framed as a “biomedical” problem, due exclusively to biological issues like tissue damage and anatomical dysfunction. It has, therefore, primarily been treated with biomedical solutions, like pills and procedures. However, CP is neither being cured nor solved, addiction rates are skyrocketing, and the prevalence of chronic pain is still on the rise (Nahin et al., 2019). While this does not mean we should rip pills from the hands of long-term pain sufferers—which is unethical at best and cruel at worst—something clearly needs to change.
Now for the good news (and not soon enough!): Thanks to recent advances in science and medicine, we now understand pain better than ever before. Research on pain management and treatment advances daily, and previous wrongs are being made right. There is hope.
To better understand pain, let’s first define it: the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) defines pain as an “unpleasant sensory and emotional experience.” Said another way, pain is both physical and emotional 100 percent of the time. It’s never just one or the other. This is confirmed by neuroscience research indicating that pain is processed by multiple parts of the brain, including the limbic system—your brain’s emotion center (Martucci & Mackey, 2018).
Stop. Rewind.
“Physical” pain is also, and always, impacted by your emotions...." Full article available on this link: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/pain-explained/201910/think-pain-is-purely-medical-think-again?fbclid=IwAR3mcpuVIghpREO38nM4KQFHHqi8m_qY-uuKxS66BW83Y_mAvR6pq2uzmQo
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