THE BIOLOGICAL PURPOSE OF PAIN FOR SOME NOTES ABOUT PAIN: CAUSES OF EXCESSIVE PAIN
Of course it is excessive pain which we desire to control, and which is the central subject of this study. A great number of different factors may combine to make pain excessive. Some of these are organic, depending upon the nerves concerned and their connections in the central nervous system; others are psychological and depend on our general mental health, as well as the particular significance which the pain has for us, both consciously and unconsciously. Constitutional factors also come into it. Some people are undoubtedly more sensitive to pain than others.
Some parts of our body are more copiously supplied with pain nerves than other parts. Any swelling due to inflammation is much more painful in a rigid tissue than in a soft tissue. This is so because pressure develops more easily in a rigid tissue. Thus an abscess at the apex of a tooth, or under the fingernail, is very painful, whereas a similar infection in the soft tissue under the skin causes relatively little pain.
If pain is coupled with distress, it quickly becomes excessive. It can be excessive, also, if it is associated with guilt, which often acts to prolong pain. The presence of a mild psychological depression makes the pain from some organic cause more severe, and tends to make the pain persist after the organic cause has ceased to operate. In fact, unrecognized depressive illness is one of the commonest causes of persistent pain for which no adequate organic cause can be found.
*101\57\2*
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.