Natures Of Pain
Pain is a subjective experience influenced by physical (nociceptive and neuropathic), psychological and environmental factors. Pain can be acute, sub-acute, recurrent, or chronic. Left untreated or under-treated, acute pain can become chronic. Chronic pain can become a disease in its own right.
Contents
What is categorization of pain?
Classification according to pathophysiology – Pain can be classified as nociceptive, neuropathic or, in the case of chronic pain only, central sensitisation, depending on the type of injury/insult and the pathophysiological pathway that leads to the perception of pain.1,2 Nociceptive pain describes a normal physiological response to tissue damage resulting from trauma, non-healing injury or inflammatory processes.1,3 The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) defines nociceptive pain as “pain that arises from actual or threatened damage to non-neural tissue and is due to the activation of nociceptors”.4 There are two categories of nociceptive pain: somatic pain refers to injuries of the musculoskeletal system and visceral pain refers to internal organ injury and is often felt indirectly.2 Neuropathic pain is defined as pain caused by a lesion or disease of the somatosensory nervous system and occurs as a result of abnormal neural activity.1,2 Neuropathic pain can be described as central or peripheral, depending on whether the lesion is in the peripheral or central nervous system.1 Central sensitisation (also known as nociplastic pain) is defined as pain that arises from altered nociception despite no clear evidence of actual or threatened tissue damage causing the activation of peripheral nociceptors, nor evidence for disease of or lesions within the somatosensory system causing the pain.1–3
Is pain purely psychological?
Search for pain management physicians near you and schedule your next appointment today – If you’ve ever been sick or injured, chances are that it put you in a pretty bad mood. Experiencing pain has been known to exacerbate other symptoms, such as stress and anxiety.
But unfortunately, just like pain can make you feel worse mentally, your mind can cause pain without a physical source, or make preexisting pain increase or linger. This phenomenon is called psychogenic pain, and it occurs when your pain is related to underlying psychological, emotional, or behavioral factors.
What Causes Psychogenic Pain? It’s not entirely clear why your brain sometimes causes pain when there seems to be no physical source. Some theories suggest that it’s due to pain memory, a condition that causes the nervous system to hold onto pain long after an injury has healed.
Others suggest that this pain may be caused by signals getting confused within the brain. The normal sensation of pain and where it’s located in the body is generally sent through nerve receptors that transmit information to the spine, which then sends it up to the brain. However, there’s room for messages to get lost along the way from point A to point B, making it possible for the brain to interpret mental distress as physical pain.
Some psychological factors that might cause physical pain include anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, depression, and stress. What Types of Pain Does It Cause? Just like pain caused by a physical stimulus, psychogenic pain can be acute or chronic, Acute pain is sharp but brief, and usually doesn’t require treatment.
Chronic pain is persistent, lasting anywhere from a few weeks to several years. Because of the continued suffering of chronic pain, treatment is highly encouraged. Chronic psychogenic pain can be felt all over the body with varying intensity, though it most commonly presents as a headache, a muscle ache, abdominal pain, or back pain.
How Is It Treated? Treatment often depends on the type of pain being experienced and if you have any history of psychological distress. A good health care provider will test for any possible physical causes before giving a diagnosis of psychogenic pain.
Treat the pain. Depending on the type of pain, physical therapy, medication, and dietary adjustments may be used to reduce or relieve the symptoms. Treat the psychological problem. Together, a therapist and the patient can try to determine the underlying mental cause and take steps to treat it. They may recommend neurological medications that have been proven to reduce pain caused by mental distress. Try alternative treatments. Health care providers may offer some alternative treatments, such as acupuncture and occupational therapy, to assist with the healing process.
Depending on the underlying psychological problem, some patients can find relief quite quickly, while others might take longer. Unfortunately, psychogenic pain and other seemingly invisible disorders have been met with skepticism and stigmatization from friends, family members, places of work, and even health care providers.
Is pain a type of emotion?
Although pain is defined as a sensory and emotional experience, it is traditionally researched and clinically treated separately from emotion.
What are the key aspects of pain?
Introduction – Pain assessment is crucial if pain management is to be effective. Nurses are in a unique position to assess pain as they have the most contact with the child and their family in hospital. Pain is the most common symptom children experience in hospital.
Acute pain (noiciception) is associated with tissue damage and an inflammatory response, it is self limiting of short duration and does not involve neural tissue. Pain is multidimensional therefore assessment must include the intensity, location, duration and description, the impact on activity and the factors that may influence the child’s perception of pain (bio psychosocial phenomenon) The influences that may alter pain perception and coping strategies include social history/issues, cultural and religious beliefs, past pain experiences and the first pain experience.
In addition family response to their child in pain can have a negative or positive influence.
How do you classify pain?
Classification according to pathophysiology – Pain can be classified as nociceptive, neuropathic or, in the case of chronic pain only, central sensitisation, depending on the type of injury/insult and the pathophysiological pathway that leads to the perception of pain.1,2 Nociceptive pain describes a normal physiological response to tissue damage resulting from trauma, non-healing injury or inflammatory processes.1,3 The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) defines nociceptive pain as “pain that arises from actual or threatened damage to non-neural tissue and is due to the activation of nociceptors”.4 There are two categories of nociceptive pain: somatic pain refers to injuries of the musculoskeletal system and visceral pain refers to internal organ injury and is often felt indirectly.2 Neuropathic pain is defined as pain caused by a lesion or disease of the somatosensory nervous system and occurs as a result of abnormal neural activity.1,2 Neuropathic pain can be described as central or peripheral, depending on whether the lesion is in the peripheral or central nervous system.1 Central sensitisation (also known as nociplastic pain) is defined as pain that arises from altered nociception despite no clear evidence of actual or threatened tissue damage causing the activation of peripheral nociceptors, nor evidence for disease of or lesions within the somatosensory system causing the pain.1–3
