The Perception of Pain in Conjunction to the Mind and Body

The Perception of Pain in Conjunction to the Mind and Body

The Perception of Pain in Conjunction to the Mind and Body

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 experience actually comes from. Understandably, we know pain happens or is perceived in the brain but is it an actual mechanical response that is controllable or is it just a sensation that the brain experiences. There are several theories and possibilities on why there can be such a separation and a divergence in people from the ones that can seemingly endure painful events and the ones that can’t. Three important claims that are related to pain are: one, pain is actually a perception, two, is that the brain mediates the suppression of pain through the “gate” in the spinal cord and three, is that the mind may be able to decide when the “gate” can open and how far open the “gate” will be. There is much controversy over whether pain is biological and we have no control over the severity of it or how much of it we feel, or whether pain is dependent on the mind or body and can influence one’s perception of pain.

Pain has a known purpose; it is present to protect the body from further damage to ...

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...a more comfortable position to lie in, or take some pressure off of the area that is experiencing pain, but other than altering what we are physically doing at that moment, we could not suppress the pain. I think that if you were to ask anyone how they control their pain, they could tell you in some form or fashion something that they do that can help alleviate it.

References

Works Cited

Freudenrich, Craig 2008 “How Pain Works” retrieved February 12, 2010 from http://www.howstuffworks.com/pain.htm

Patterson, D. R., Everett, J. J., Burns, G. L., & Marvin, J. A. (1992). Hypnosis for the treatment of burn pain. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 60, 713-7.

Unknown 2007 “ISAP Pain Terminology” retrieved February 12, 2010 from http://www.iasp-pain.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&Template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=1728#Pain