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Updated: Jul 18, 2025

Determining Pain Detection and Tolerance Thresholds Using an Integrated, Multi-Modal Pain Task Battery
Published on: April 14, 2016
Beyond biopsychosocial: The keystone mechanism theory of pain
Timothy Lawn1, Manon Sendel2, Ralf Baron2
1Department of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Abstract:
Pain is a deeply personal experience, with interindividual differences in its chronification and treatment presenting a formidable healthcare challenge. The biopsychosocial model (BPSm) has been hugely influential within nascent attempts at precision pain medicine, steering the field away from a reductionist biomechanical viewpoint and emphasising complex interactions of biological, psychological, and social factors which shape the individuality of pain. However, despite offering a strong theoretical foundation and holistic perspective, we contend that the BPSm remains limited in its capacity to deliver truly mechanistically informed treatment of pain. We therefore propose the keystone model of pain which offers a pragmatic balance between the dimensionality expansive BPSm and overly reductive approaches, providing both theoretical and practical advantages for the transition from treating populations to individual people.
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