According to the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), pain is defined as “An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage.” The IASP recently expanded that definition further to include an individual’s personal experiences shaped over time, varying degrees of pain behavior, as well as the potential impact of pain on social and psychological aspects of life. What this all means is a person’s pain is real and their experience will depend on culture, society, past experiences and more.
No person wants to hear their pain is in their head. But a person’s sense of and response to pain is processed in the brain. As humans we do not have a specific pain center in the brain. The pain response happens by many areas of the brain providing input for how the person should respond.
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Let’s use a hot stove analogy to understand this concept.
A young child (before they understand a hot stove is bad) touches the stove. That heat sensation travels from the fingers to the spine, up the spinal cord and to the brain. The brain registers the sensation and pieces a response together based on life experience. Since the young child has not touched a hot stove before the brain does not have that information to compare the stimulus to. But, because the child’s parents probably told them to be careful around the hot stove (though they clearly didn’t listen), the brain says (MOM SAID DO NOT TOUCH STOVE BECAUSE HOT). This message is quickly sent down the spinal cord to the hand to remove it quickly before any further skin damage happens. The young child will pull the hand away quickly and likely say ouch because that is the belief the brain just sent down to the hand…that the hot stimulus should hurt.
From this experience, the child will now be more mindful of hot objects because of that experience learning that hot objects hurt.
An analogy like this can be created for any event or stimulus we encounter as humans. The response a person has will be shaped on many factors. This is why individuals respond differently to an event or stimulus. And is why some individuals can twist an ankle and walk it off, while others will spend days or weeks on crutches on in a walking boot.
Past experience matters. Family and biology matter. While the pain response will be processed in the brain, the pain response will always be individual.”
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