What Is Pain? What Happens When You Hurt Yourself? 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 average of the three blocks revealed the intended pain (M 5 3.62, SD 5 0.99) was experienced as more painful than unintended pain (M 5 3.00, SD 5 0.78), t(41) 5 2.21, p 5 .03, prep 5 .91” (Gray and Wegner, 2008). This study represents how the idea of pain can change depending on the way that person was harmed. Essentially, the intentional pain sensation we feel has shown that it tends to sting more than if it were unintentional

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.

Pain is not only defined as a sensation or a physical awareness, but also entails perception. Moreover, pain is an unpleasant and an uncomfortable emotion that is transferred to the brain by sensory neurons. There are various kinds of pain and how one perceives them is varied as well. Certain parts of the brain also play a key role in how one feels pain such as the parietal lobe, which is involved in interpreting pain while the hypothalamus is responsible for the response to pain one has. Although some believe pain is just a physical awareness and is in the body, pain is all in one’s mind because the perception of pain and the emotion that controls its intensity differs in individuals and when pain itself is administered to the body, the brain determines the emotions one attaches to each painful experience.

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

Pain not only involves the physical reaction to damaged tissue, but also involves an emotional and cognitive response by the person experiencing the pain (Backer, 1994). A person's prior experience will influence how pain is managed. Pain is a signal that something is not

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.

What is pain? If you ask someone to tell you the definition of pain they will typically state something that hurts. Registered nurses should know the definition of pain and how it can be identified on their patients. However, Abdalrahim, Majali, Stomberg, and Bergbom (2010) propose that nurses did not receive adequate education in pain management and suggest the lack of knowledge hinders their ability to adequate control their patients’ pain. Therefore, the unethical treatment of pain can be traced back nurses.

The feeling of pain has often been referred to as a controversial one, as one of the sensations that is felt by the body. Recently, discussions about the subject of pain have been focused on the difficulty encountered in trying to establish a definition for it. Because pain has no one definition, expressing it becomes quite elusive for the sufferer, which then leads to the difficulty in the understanding of pain by an outsider. Elaine Scarry makes a strong argument that “to have pain is to have certainty” whereas, “to hear about pain is to have doubt,” (Scarry, 13) and with this she emphasizes that pain is almost impossible to deduce by an outsider because all they experience is “doubt.” Although Scarry’s argument is valid, Joanna Bourke makes a contrasting argument that, “indeed, hearing about or witnessing another person’s pain could actually destroy the onlooker,” (Bourke, 46) which could be interpreted to mean that one’s pain could in fact be shared by others as opposed to Scarry’s argument. Therefore, the transferability of pain in American Sniper and Schindler’s List stems from the acknowledgement of the pain of the sufferer through the use of framing and close up shots of the onlooker, and it is that acknowledgement that makes for the possibility of the sharing of pain in regards to the situations of war in the movies.

Each person experiences loss and the pain and grief that coincides with it at some point in their life. Often times, these people gain a new outlook on life, and begin to see the world differently. People change as a result of pain; they think and act differently. Margaret Atwood utilizes characterization through Verna’s presentation, thoughts, and actions in “Stone Mattress” to show that pain changes people.

I used to be a cutter… but shh, don’t tell. Society didn't allow me to express my pain that way…Today’s society refuses to acknowledge many problems that teens deal with. People would rather believe in ‘happily ever after’ than face the truth, children are suffering. While it may seem to others that the problems are made up, its very real to the one dealing with them everyday. This suffering can leave permanent scars, and damage (if not ruin) their future. By remaining ignorant, self harm becomes more and more common, but at what cost? If educators and medical personnel were to be more educated on self harm and how to deal with it, teens and young adults would be more comfortable asking for help. Getttig rid of the stereotypes that

‘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’.

Deliberate self-harm is a term that covers a wide range of behaviours some of which are directly related to suicide and some are not. This is a relatively common behaviour that is little understood. This essay provides an overview of the nature and extent of those most at risk of self-harm, including causes and risk factors. Examining some of the stereotyping that surrounds self -harm, and looking at ways in which self-harm can be prevented.

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

The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage” (1979). Pain is actually the culprit behind warranting a visit to a physician office for many people (Besson, 1999). Notoriously unpleasant, pain could also pose a threat as both a psychological and economic burden (Phillips, 2006). Sometimes pain does happen without any damage of tissue or any likely diseased state. The reasons for such pain are poorly understood and the term used to describe such type of pain is “psychogenic pain”. Also, the loss of productivity and daily activity due to pain is also significant. Pain engulfs a trillion dollars of GDP for lost work time and disability payments (Melnikova, 2010). Untreated pain not only impacts a person suffering from pain but also impacts their whole family. A person’s quality of life is negatively impacted by pain and it diminishes their ability to concentrate, work, exercise, socialize, perform daily routines, and sleep. All of these negative impacts ultimately lead to much more severe behavioral effects such as depression, aggression, mood alterations, isolation, and loss of self-esteem, which pose a great threat to human society.