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Pain01:20

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Pain serves as a critical warning signal that alerts the body to potential or actual harm. When mechanical pressure on the skin is intense, such as from a sharp pinch, the sensation transitions from touch to pain. Similarly, extreme temperatures, like a hot pot handle, convert the sensation of heat into pain. Pain can also result from overstimulation of other senses, such as blinding light, loud noise, or the intense heat from habañero peppers. This ability to sense pain is essential for...
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Pain is critical to various clinical pathologies, provoking an urgent need for effective management. Pain, whether acute or chronic, is a complex neurochemical process. Its alleviation depends on the type, with nonopioid analgesics effective for mild to moderate pain, such as musculoskeletal or inflammatory pain, while neuropathic pain responds best to anticonvulsants, tricyclic antidepressants, or serotonin/norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors. For severe acute or chronic pain, opioids may be...
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Nociception—the ability to feel pain—is essential for an organism’s survival and overall well-being. Noxious stimuli such as piercing pain from a sharp object, heat from an open flame, or contact with corrosive chemicals are first detected by sensory receptors, called nociceptors, located on nerve endings. Nociceptors express ion channels that convert noxious stimuli into electrical signals. When these signals reach the brain via sensory neurons, they are perceived as pain.
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Primary motives such as sleep, sex, and pain avoidance are crucial drivers of behavior in humans and animals. These motives ensure survival, reproductive success, and overall well-being by prompting actions that meet essential bodily needs.
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Some researchers suggest that altruism operates on empathy. Empathy is the capacity to understand another person’s perspective, to feel what he or she feels. An empathetic person makes an emotional connection with others and feels compelled to help (Batson, 1991). Empathy can be expressed in several ways, including cognitive, affective, and motor. 
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Questioning the boundary between pain and suffering.

Mark D Sullivan1, Amanda C de C Williams2

  • 1University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States.

Pain
|September 15, 2025
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Pain and suffering are interconnected, not linear. Viewing them as a unitary construct offers a new framework for integrated pain research and clinical care.

Keywords:
DualismGate control theoryMeaningMechanismNociceptionPersonPsychogenic pain

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Area of Science:

  • Pain medicine
  • Neuroscience
  • Clinical care

Background:

  • Historically, pain was viewed as religious, social, or medical.
  • Modern medicine often uses a linear model of pain causing suffering.
  • This model is inadequate for current pain neuroscience and clinical practice.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To challenge the linear model of pain and suffering.
  • To propose a circular, unitary construct for pain and suffering.
  • To advance pain research and clinical practice through a new framework.

Main Methods:

  • Review of historical perspectives on pain.
  • Analysis of modern medical models of pain and suffering.
  • Integration of pain neuroscience, psychology, and social factors.

Main Results:

  • The unidirectional linear model of pain causing suffering is outdated.
  • A circular relationship between pain and suffering is proposed.
  • A unitary construct for pain and suffering is supported by current neuroscience.

Conclusions:

  • Overcoming dualism in pain theory requires a circular model.
  • A unitary construct advances pain research and clinical practice.
  • Integrating biological, psychological, and social strategies is key for pain management.