Experiencing and Knowing Pain - Patients' Perspectives

Abstract

This article focuses on patients' accounts of chronic pain and the manner in which they communicate their experiences. The data have been generated through interviews with chronic pain patients undergoing treatment for their problems. The results show that patients develop a set of discursive markers by means of which they are able to make distinctions between different kinds of pain. These distinctions are made with respect to pain qualities and pain localizations in the body. Further, a majority of the patients report that one pain generally transforms into another. This subjectively perceived patterning we refer transformations and these, in turn, contain different pain phases. Most patients report pains as dynamic and constantly fluctuating rather than as a stable and consistent sensation. The results also show that some patients identify certain pain phases as precursors of to as pain more severe phases, and that they use this knowledge as a means for taking preventive actions. Since experiencing pain often involves a discursive element, gaining linguistic control over one's pain provides the person with an important resource for dealing with pain.

• Pain Communicationpain Discrimination- Pain Learningpain Localization- Pain Quality- Pain Phase- Pain Transformation