HotmailSuffering chronic pain? Declare war on your ailment!
 | Special feature |
 | The lit list: Nobel Prize winners From American author Toni Morrison to French novelist Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio, meet the writers who have won the highest literary honor. |
| Special feature |
 | Life-changing lit: Celebs' fave books From Mary-Louise Parker to LL Cool J, stars share the books that have influenced them most. |
 |
 TODAY Player’s ponytail takedown sparks outrage Nov. 9: In an incident caught on camera, college students play rough in a women’s soccer match between the University of New Mexico and Brigham Young University. NBC’s Kevin Tibbles reports. |
 | FREE VIDEO |
 |
Pain relief for kids April 1: Alexis Glick reports on children suffering from painful diseases, followed by a studio discussion led by Lester Holt in which experts answer viewer e-mails on the topic of pain. Today show |
Yet, pain is all these things, and more.
Compounding the riddle is the subjective nature of pain. There is no single accepted pain experience — no one feels it the same. Like the perception of beauty, it's very real, but only in the eye of the beholder. What hurts me may not hurt you. "Pain is what the patient says it is" is one of the few definitive, universal statements about pain. What is the difference between a patient who complains of the pain from losing a leg or the pain from losing a loved one? I hold emotional distress and physical torment to be equally painful experiences. I often see patients who claim a physical cause for their pain yet also tell me about great psychic pain, such as deep depression. Pain comprises a wide spectrum of feelings and is as individual as our fingerprint. Pain's inherently emotional quality is what makes it so difficult to define. Emotions like sadness, fear, anxiety, and anger, as well as childhood memories, all contribute to the landscape of pain.
The foregoing is excerpted from "The War on Pain," by Scott Fishman and Lisa Berger. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced without written permission from HarperCollins Publishers, 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022
- Discuss Story On Newsvine
-
Rate Story:
View popularLowHigh - Instant Message
MORE FROM BOOKS |
 Books Section Front |
| Add Books headlines to your news reader: |
Sponsored links
Resource guide