Pain: “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage”
– International Association for the Study of Pain
Let’s try to break down this definition to understand what pain is:
*Unpleasant = we don’t want to experience it
*Sensory and emotional experience = we physically feel something but we also feel something emotionally
*Actual or potential tissue damage = we could have a physical injury but we also may not have any structural cause for the pain
*Described in terms such as damage = we use the word damage as if something is is injured and no longer functions normally, even though nothing may actually be damaged.
It goes on to describe pain as a personal experience influenced by biological, social and psychological factors. Through life experiences individuals learn the concept of pain.
*This means that pain is an individual experience – it is subjective.
Different models of managing pain
Against All Pains 