What Does Pain Teach Us?

Certain types of pain are enjoyable,as contradictory as that may sound, because they remind us that we're still alive...other types of pain teach us not to do whatever caused it...a child doesn't know what to fear until they get hurt...all pains are experience, and experience is knowledge/wisdom gained...

Pain is generally divided into the following modes;

- sensory-discriminative (milliseconds)
- affective-motivational (milliseconds->seconds)
- cognitive-evaluative (seconds)

Asking 'What does pain teach us' sounds like your asking about that last one, cognitive-evaluative.

Apparantly there is a double dissociation between the first two types, being an objective measure of intensity and a subjective feel of quality respectively. The process can be categorized as stages;

- transduction (tissue trauma to nociceptors)
- transmission (nociceptors to spinal cord)
- central representation (spinal cord into thalamus)
- modulation (action of the cortex and spinal cord to inhibit flow of pain information)

So perhaps it depends on the type of pain, and the conditions around it. Specifically in the cognitive-evaluative mode pain itself can be modified by expectations and situational variables [Petrovic and Ingvar, 2002]. There seems to be 3 experiences to modulate pain;

- attention
- placebo analgesia
- hypnotic analgesia

It's an interesting topic, but I guess there is also psychological hardship which some people might call pain, versus that physiological pain described above. Interestingly for pain transmission there seems to be two systems which share the same complexes into the brain, that being pain and itch.

"A new study of itch adds to growing evidence that the chemical signals that make us want to scratch are the same signals that make us wince in pain.

The interactions between itch and pain are only partly understood, said itch and pain researcher Diana Bautista, an assistant professor of molecular and cell biology at the University of California, Berkeley. The skin contains some nerve cells that respond only to itch and others that respond only to pain. Others, however, respond to both, and some substances cause both itching and pain."

and

"Pain and itch are extremes of our sense of touch, which itself is not well understood, Bautista said. While research has shown in detail how touch receptors on the skin map to the brain, “it’s really an open question which molecules are involved in detecting tactile stimuli, like vibrations or light touch, and how these molecules are modulated.”"

Reference Link here

I know I've completely avoided the question, but not on purpose :pinch:

IS it possible that our separation of physical pleasure and pain is perhaps a bit arbitrary?

I ask because when I wince, it can look like a smile...

Pain is a warning. It teaches us to be carefull. Don't confuse pain with pleaure, that's like comparing an appitite to staarvation. You can always point out extreem examples but that distracts from the essence of the question.

It is interesting how folks respond to a nondiscript question. I think that tells us as much about the person as their answer.

It is interesting how folks respond to a nondiscript question. I think that tells us as much about the person as their answer.

You really should read Star Wars: Traitor.

I could try and theorize some important concept stemming from the lessons learned from pain, but I won't; probably wouldn't do that well anyway.

But I'll share a lesson I learned from my own pain:

I broke my ankle when a 250lb dude landed on it during basketball. I learned that I can live without basketball, haha.

Pain teaches us that there are things we have not yet resolved.

Learn_To_Know wrote: I could try and theorize some important concept stemming from the lessons learned from pain, but I won't; probably wouldn't do that well anyway.

Go for it.

As someone who has struggled with severe depression for a long time, the near-absence of pain (at least, some kinds...) is also an almost ever-present sensation that I am very usually cognizant of. But I know much more of myself because of the burdens i've shouldered and the pain that they've caused, than I do because of any attempts at self-realization. It also, on occassion, shows me just how little i've grown and how much I don't know. Though, being eighteen, I am remarkably ignorant in many respects.