Pain: Understanding the Subjective, ObjectivelyPain is a universal element of the human experience. Everyone, at some point in their lives, experiences pain in one form or another. Pain has many causes and effects and is itself a very complex biological phenomenon. It also causes significant emotional and social concerns. Pain cannot be fully understood within the context of a single area of ​​scientific research. Indeed, it needs to be examined across a wide range of disciplines, and furthermore considered in relation to important non-scientific influences, such as emotional responses and social determinants. I conducted my explorations into pain with the following question in mind: How subjective is pain? I found several avenues of research useful in my explorations: these are (1) the growing specialty of the medical profession, pain management; (2) pain in people with spinal cord injuries (SCI) and (3) painful experiences of children. Examination of these issues has led to the conclusion that pain is in fact a highly subjective phenomenon. “The philosophy of learning to live with pain is one that I will never understand or advocate,” says Dr. W. David Leak, President and CEO of Pain Net, Inc. (1). Indeed, the idea that pain is an essential part of life and that one must endure pain to achieve something positive (as conveyed by the ubiquitous athletic mantra "no pain, no gain") has enlightened our perception as a society of how pain is experienced. to be treated. Only recently, as the healthcare community has become increasingly aware that managing a patient's pain is a complex but crucial aspect of their care, has society's view of pain and on its management began to change. “Pain management” itself is a new middle of paper, as there are other factors that need to be considered. A review of the emerging field of pain management, pain in people with spinal cord injuries (SCI), and the dynamics of the childhood pain experience provides evidence that emotional aspects , psychological and social aspects of pain require that it be taken into account. a subjective phenomenon.ReferencesThis article reflects the research and thoughts of a student at the time the article was written for a course at Bryn Mawr College. Like other materials on Serendip, it is not intended to be "authoritative" but rather to help others further develop their own explorations. Web links were active at the time the article was published, but are not updated.Contributing Thoughts | Search Serendip for other articles | Serendip Homepagehttp://serendip.brynmawr.edu/cgi-bin/comments