[Pain: an approach to its understanding and management]

The article highlights that pain is a human experience that goes beyond the merely physical, and notes the importance of understanding that only the sufferer is able to describe and quantify it. Describe the pain not only as a symptom, more than that is feeling, and emotion and emphasizes the role of the doctor-patient relationship in their approach. It emphasizes the neurobiological, psychosocial and spiritual dimensions of pain and the need for an interdisciplinary approach. Upgrade contributions of neurobiology in brain modulation of pain and the origins of the levels of sensitivity and pain tolerance. Rescue the importance of recognizing the total pain and suffering in the pain therapeutic approach, and highlights the difficulties of the health team. Review various international human rights instruments, to support the argument that the patient should be protected from the inadequate treatment of pain. Lack of education and updating of health professionals is another major problem. Finally emphasizes that pain relief is a human right and the inadequacy of treatment is a serious ethical lapse.