Pain is a Subjective Experience

• What is pain?
• How can we define it?
• Can pain be described so that others can understand what the pain really feels like?
• Can the complexity of this very personal experience be explained anatomically?

After quite a few dumb stares from people who either thought the answers were impossible or obvious, I was pleased to find there were thousands of professionals asking the same questions, and some devoting their lives to finding answers.

The International Association for the Study of Pain gives this definition

• PAIN is "an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, ar described in terms of such damage".

INFORMATION ON PAIN

I was asked to summarize our current understanding of the anatomy of pain for the Ontario Inter-Urban Pain Conference on November 29, 1996. This paper is updated from time to time as new information becomes available. Read it for the latest details.

The Human Brain is a mysterious organ. It is the place where all sensation is registered. Given this information we can think and express emotions. So where is the mind and what part of the brain controls our emotions, so important in the effect of pain in our lives?

Even as an anatomist I never cease to be amazed by the new knowledge that continually pours across my desk and reaches me over the Internet. Much of it is also useful in clinical practice. Does the brain contain the soul and if so where? Some people think it resides in the temporal lobe while many others say there is no such thing at all. I recently had a chance to prepare a book review at the request of The Medical Post. This book is a fascinating read and I highly recommend it. If you are interested, have a look at my book review.

The emotional function of the brain is particularily fascinating, not only for those in pain but for all others too. After all, the brain is recognized as our biggest sex organ. So what does it mean when someone tells you, "I love you with all my heart", or "You have broken my heart?" When my own father died due to a cardiac rupture, my mother was told he died of a "ruptured heart" and for more than a year she greived over the thought that she had caused him severe emotional distress. This was not the case at all but I was in India as a missionary surgeon and had no chance to console her until I returned.

So is the heart really a part of the brain? Go to this "link" to find out.

You might also be interested to learn of my experiences in India--so disturbing that I have had to describe them as fiction. This "novel" is co-athoured by a friend who had a bad time in Africa, a painful time. But now we are talking about emotional pain.

For those who with back pain, here is some information on back pain.

The following are excellent sources of more information on pain in general.

• The International Association for the Study of Pain (I.A.S.P.) has a wealth of information on the internet for professionals.

• The Canadian Pain Society will be of special interest to Canadians involved in the management of people in pain.

• The North American Chronic Pain Association of Canada, NACPAC, has a directory of pain clinics and pain specialists online that will be useful to many people.

• Information on pain in the workplace is available on this website for those with a special interest in chronic work-related musculoskeletal pain.

I will not get into the very complex subject of pain management here because my interest in pain is largely anatomical. But all drugs used to relieve pain and its consequences are only able to act because there are anatomical sites where thay can attach to elements of the nervous system. One such substance that recently has risen to prominence is marijuana.

Created by: ranney@hsfx.ca 1997/02/11.
Revised by: ranney@hsfx.ca 2008/08/08.