Pain and Suffering (The Routledge Series Integrating Science and Culture)

Pain Is Felt By Everyone, Yet Understanding Its Nature Is Fragmented Across Myriad Modes Of Thought. In This Compact, Yet Thoroughly Integrative Account Uniting Medical Science, Psychology, And The Humanities Ronald Schleifer Offers A Deep And Complex Understanding Along With Possible Strategies Of Dealing With Pain In Its Most Overwhelming Forms. A Perfect Addition To Many Courses In Medicine, Healthcare, Counseling Psychology, And Social Work-- Ronald Schleifer. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Table of Contents 6 Series Foreword 8 Preface and Acknowledgments 10 A Note on the Images 12 Introduction 14 1. The Fact and Experience of Pain: Science and the Humanities 16 Pain and Suffering 16 Chronic Pain 20 The Representation of Pain 22 Science and the Humanities 25 The Structure of This Book 30 Part I: The Nature of Pain 34 2. The Physiology of Pain: How the Body Works 36 Definitions of Pain 38 The Physiology of Pain 43 3. The Phenomenon of Chronic Pain: Controversies and Understanding 51 Chronic Pain: Controversy beyond Consensus 51 Pain and the Brain: Sensation, Perception, and Modulation 54 Pain without Concomitant Injury: Chronic Pain as a Disease 59 Pain as Sensation 62 Pain and Cognition 65 4. Treating Pain: Operations, Drug Therapy, Placebos, and Palliative Care 68 Surgical Therapies 70 Drug Therapies 73 Anesthesia 73 Analgesics 76 The Placebo Effect 81 Acupuncture and Hypnosis 85 Palliative Care 87 Part II: Experiences of Pain 90 5. The Experience of Pain: The Nature of Suffering and the Meaning of Pain 92 An Element of Blank 93 Sensitivity to Pain 97 Schemas of Experience, Schemas of Pain 99 Cross-Cultural Pain 104 The Nature of Suffering 108 Intensifiers of Pain 110 6. The Politics and Spirituality of Pain: Infants, Women, Torture, Religion, Pleasure and Pain 115 Biases Related to Pain in Infants 117 Biases Related to Pain in Women 120 Torture 126 Pain and Religion 130 Pleasure and Pain 135 Part III: Living with Pain 142 7. Caretakers and Sufferers Dealing with Pain 144 Definitions of Pain 144 Exemplary Definition 145 Aristotelian Definition 147 Operational Definition 147 The Functional Definition of Pain 150 The Operational Definition of Addiction 154 Dealing with Pain 156 The Care of Patients 160 Appendix I: Pain, Science, and the Humanities 163 Appendix II: Online Resources Focused on the Nature and Treatment of Pain 168 Bibliography 170 Index 177 "Pain is felt by everyone, yet understanding its nature is fragmented across myriad modes of thought. In this compact, yet thoroughly integrative account uniting medical science, psychology, and the humanities Ronald Schleifer offers a deep and complex understanding along with possible strategies of dealing with pain in its most overwhelming forms. A perfect addition to many courses in medicine, healthcare, counseling psychology, and social work"-- Provided by publisher