Last updated: Mon, Aug 26, 2024
You may have heard that Inuit (Eskimoes) have many terms to describe different types of snow. The many terms make distinctions about snow that are important to the lives of these peoples. Similarly, many different types of pain and aspects of pain exist in our layman's language, and more among pain specialists. This section examines terms that come up in discussions of pain. The intent is not just to provide definitions, but to make clear some concepts that are important to understanding the nature of pain and our understanding of it.
If you have suffered much pain for much time, you're probably aware of pain as a sensation that varies in its intensity, its quality, its timing, its importance, and perhaps in other ways as well. A well-known and widely-published pain psychologist, Dennis Turk of the University of Washington, has pointed out that "...pain is a multidimensional perception and not a simple sensation."1 His explicit point, that pain is complex, is granted. However, note that he nevertheless characterizes pain as a "perception." While there is no doubt that pain can be perceived, there is a legitimate question as to how useful it is to view pain as a "perception." There is even reason to question the importance of conscious perception of pain.
My viewpoint is that although there certainly is a perception of pain, pain is more than a perception. Beyond its perception, pain is an organismic state, more like thirst, hunger, or curiosity than like a gentle breeze ruffling your hair. Concepts and categories shape our understanding. (The thesis that pain is more than a perception is developed throughout this work, particularly in Motive, Behavior, and Learning and Phineas Gage and Brain Modularity.)
The present section begins with a discussion of the idea that there are healthy and unhealthy (pathological) forms of pain. Although your pain may be your heaviest cross, it's important to recognize that pain exists for a purpose. See Healthy Pain and Pathological Pain.
Next, you probably know that your pain is chronic, but what exactly does that imply? See Acute and Chronic Pain.
There is clearly variety in pains. A stove burn feels different from a scraped knee, and so on. What, if any, is the significance of this variation? Do different qualities of pain convey information to treating caregivers? Dimensions and Flavors of Pain.
My experience leads me to believe that the link between activity and pain has important implications. This is the subject of Pain and Activity.
And what is pain, anyway? Pain Definitions looks at one widely-cited definition of pain and discusses its significance. (In brief, the import of such a definition is the result of the importance of the categories that such definitions attempt to create.)
The final subsection discusses the categorizations respecting pain that are used by the medical community. The Medical Categories of Pain.
Within this section...
Healthy Pain and Pathological Pain (Last updated: Fri, Jun 28, 2024)
Acute and Chronic Pain (Last updated: Wed, Feb 19, 2025)
Dimensions and Flavors of Pain (Last updated: Sat, Feb 8, 2025)
Pain and Activity (Last updated: Wed, Feb 19, 2025)
Pain Definitions (Last updated: Wed, Feb 19, 2025)
The Medical Categories of Pain (Last updated: Sun, May 26, 2024)
Or skip to...
Co-morbidities (Last updated: Sat, Feb 22, 2025)