Outline Theories about the Experience of Pain Essay

1. It is important that we take into consideration, areas other than physical pain and have an holistic approach. Pain is whatever the person who is suffering it feels it to be. Physical pain can be experienced as a result of disease or injury, or some other form of bodily distress. For example childbirth. Although not associated with injury or disease, but can be an extremely painful experience. Pain can also be social, emotional and spiritual as well as just physical.

The psychological processes in the article include pain perception, and how we as humans perceive pain, how we react to it, and how we adapt to it. The article explains the pain signaling process and how pain can be amplified. For example, when we get pricked by a needle, a signal from our finger ascends through the spinal cord to reach parts of the brain. From there, we perceive pain, then we form a pain experience. Pain perception can be resulting from several factors such as the frequency of pain input, how sensitive the CNS is, How the body reacts after brain perceives and tries to send information to the injured area. A pain experience is when we have the urge to put a band aid on our injury, or be scared to get pricked from a needle again. However, each pain experience differs from one culture to the other, moreover, one person to the other. The article is conducting a research paper about pain and pain perception in different ethnic groups.

The perception of pain and the emotions that control intensity differ in individuals. Since feeling pain is somewhat adaptive, when one experiences it, he or she becomes aware of an injury and tries to remove oneself from the source that caused the injury. For this reason, pain is considered neuropathic or inflammatory in nature. Thus, when pain is the outcome from the damage caused to the neurons of the peripheral and central nervous system, then that pain is neuropathic. However, if the pain signals any kind of tissue damage, then the pain is inflammatory in nature. Due to various types of pain, the interpretation of pain by neurons and the source of that pain

Gertler clarifies that pain refers to the sensation and not the common cause, which is C-fibers firing in a specific area with tissue damage. (109) She asserts that pain is not essentially connected to tissue damage of a particular location, indicating to me inadequate understanding of the concept. If one pinches one's arm, though the sensation of pain may not be necessarily located in the arm, I contend that the pain felt is relevantly connected to the location pinched. Gertler provides the alleviating effect of painkillers as an example of a non-essential feature of pain. (117) Location is unlike this property, however, and is essential in conceptualizing pain. For instance, even an amputee, who had a leg removed and experiences a phantom leg-pain, is unable to describe the sensation they feel without making reference to a specific body part. Whether or not the pain is actually “located” anywhere is irrelevant, it matters only that the pain is conceptualized as having a location. Our understanding of pain relies fundamentally on where the pain is thought to be “located.” The fact that it is impossible to conceive of pain without reference to the “location” of the sensation proves that location is an essential feature of

In Diane Ackerman’s essay “Pain,” she ponders about the subjectivity in experiencing pain, how to define pain, and its role in human life. She begins by emphasizing that an individual’s ability to endure pain may depend more on culture and atmosphere than on the actual magnitude of the pain. Given that at times humans can forego pain for a spell because of their atmosphere, Ackerman elucidates the importance of surroundings in how one experiences pain by exemplifying her claim through a phenomenon in football players. Ackerman continues her discussion on the disparities in the reception of pain by asserting expectations delineate the painfulness of events. Strengthening her claim that tradition affects pain, Ackerman considers how cultures

This paper will define the term pain and how it pertains to the comfort theory. Next, there will be discussion from relevant literature in regards to pain. Its defining attributes will be

Pain is one of the most common reason patient seek out help. The concept of pain can affect every person is some form or way. Pain can stand alone as a theory or fix with other theories like Comfort, Self- care, and more. As a surgical nurse I need to have a higher understanding of the patients I care for to ensure they receive the best care. Concept analysis is a form of research that allows a person to explore a theory/ concept to the fullest degree in an organized way. This concept analysis will take Walker & Avant’s steps to form a better understanding into pain.

To most people, pain is a nuisance, but to others pain controls their life. The feeling discomforts us in ways that can sometimes seem almost imaginable. These feelings can lead to many different side effects if not dealt with or diagnosed. These effects can include depression, anxiety, and incredible amount of stress. The truth about pain is that it is vital to our existence. Without the nervous system responding to pain, we would have no idea if we were touching a hot stove, being stuck by a porcupine’s needles, or something else that could leave a lasting effect upon our bodies without us even knowing anything about it.

Each individual have experience pain differently. This is usually due to the factors of ethnicity, genetics and sex. This is known as pain perception. Different pain experiences are usually based on the location and severity of pain of an injury. However, evidence has shown that pain perception is not entirely dependent on physical injury; when pain perception is less/greater than expected from the extent of a physical injury, cases where the site of injury and site of pain differs.

JCAHO (2011) also stated that patients and their families needed to be educated about pain and how the patients’ pain is going to be managed. Every patient perceives and exhibits pain in a different manner and if nurses do not assess the patient thoroughly they can miss it. For instance, Engebretson et al. (2006) acknowledged that, patients manifest pain in different ways and this resulted in nurses performing an inadequate assessment of their patients’ pain. Also, Engebretson et al. recognized that patients often conceal their pain because they do not want to be viewed by staff as complainers or addicts, and if patients decide to speak up the nurses frequently view their patients’ statements from their own cultural, moral and ethical belief system and not their patients which leaves the patients’ pain untreated.

Pain and comfort as a rule are considered opposing in the needs of human beings. Pain is defined as an unpleasant sensory or emotional experience associated with potential tissue damage. Pain can be divided into categories of long-term pain or short-term pain and by the type of pain, level of pain, location of pain, and ease of solving the pain. Frequently, there is no way to completely manage pain, specifically in end-of-life care. Pain is at

The major concepts of this theory are defined theoretically since the use of these definitions is from a broader theoretic concept. Therefore, an operational concept could be developed from them. There is consistency in the use of these concepts throughout the theory of acute pain management with examples given using the same language as well as maintaining the integrity of the concepts.

‘Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage’ (International association for the study of pain 2014). Pain can be made up of complex and subjective experiences. The experience of pain is highly personal and private, and can not be directly observed or measured from one person to the next (Mac Lellan 2006). According to the agency for health care policy and research 1992, an individuals self-report of pain is the most reliable indicator of its presence. This is also supported by Mc Caffery’s definition in 1972, when he said ‘Pain is whatever the experiencing patient says it is, existing whenever he says it does’.

Pain is something that connects all of us. From birth to death we can identify with each other the idea and arguably the perception of it. We all know we experience it, but what is more important is how we all perceive it. It is known that there are people out there with a ‘high’ pain tolerance and there are also ones out there with a ‘low’ pain tolerance, but what is different between them? We also know that pain is an objective response to certain stimuli, there are neurons that sense and feel pain and there are nerve impulses that send these “painful” messages to the brain. What we don’t know is where the pain

Concept analysis are particularly helpful in explaining ambiguous concepts (Rodgers & Knafl, 2000). Pain is defined in multiple ways. Also, pain has is associated with a lot of misconceptions. This concept analysis’ objective is to bring clarity and to provide a deeper understanding of pain.