Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 21, 2026

Quantifying Pain Location and Intensity with Multimodal Pain Body Diagrams
Published on: July 7, 2023
Chronic pain as a narratological distress: a phenomenological study
Maya Lavie-Ajayi1, Nitsan Almog, Michal Krumer-Nevo
1Spitzer Department of Social Work, The Israeli Center for Qualitative Research of People and Societies (ICQM), Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel. laviema@bgu.ac.il
Objectives:
This paper reports finding from a study that focused on people living with chronic pain, chronicling their experiences of pain and emotional distress, and their social and personal narratives.
Methods:
The paper presents an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) of six interviews conducted with men and women aged between 27 and 61. The interviews were taken from a larger study of the experience of chronic pain.
Findings:
Chronic pain is a double faced phenomenon: a vivid and total experience on one hand, an elusive and deceptive phenomenon on the other. The nature of this phenomenon - together with the medical and public discourse that ignores and delegitimizes chronic pain this condition - prompts people to question their own experiences and to face what we define as a narratological distress.
Discussion:
Narratological distress is the internal battle between two unwanted narratives: The elusive delegitimizing narrative of denial, which seeks to ignore the experience of pain; and the narrative that acknowledges the pain, but with the price of accepting oneself as "ill" or "disabled."
More Related Videos
07:14A Quantitative Sensory Testing Paradigm to Obtain Measures of Pain Processing in Patients Undergoing Breast Cancer Surgery
Published on: January 18, 2018
08:33A Randomized, Sham-Controlled Trial of Cranial Electrical Stimulation for Fibromyalgia Pain and Physical Function, Using Brain Imaging Biomarkers
Published on: January 5, 2024
Related Concept Videos
Analgesia and Pain Management
Nociception
Pain
Chronic Pancreatitis I: Introduction
Pancreatitis is the inflammation of the pancreas, which occurs when the immune system becomes active and causes swelling, pain, and disruptions in organ function. Pancreatitis can manifest as either an acute or chronic condition.
Acute pancreatitis arises suddenly and lasts for a brief duration, while chronic pancreatitis is a long-term affliction...
Bonanno's Theory of Grieving
Resilience
The resilience...
Lazarus's Cognitive Appraisal Theory
Primary Appraisal:...