title: Cultural factors in clinical pain assessment.
abstract: Experimental evidence suggests that the threshold at which a given stimulus is perceived as painful is relatively constant both for an individual and between individuals. However, higher thresholds at which pain described as severe or at which particular behavioural response occurs are much more variable and appear to depend on cultural factors. Since one concern of a healing profession is to alleviate or minimize pain it would be helpful if some means of assessment of the intensity of pain experienced by other persons were available. Unfortunately no such measure exists. Distinction must be made between relief of pain which should be based on physiological principles and relief of distress in which socio-psychological factors are of much greater importance.
mesh_terms: D003469:Culture; D006801:Humans; D010146:Pain / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D011312:Pressure; D012677:Sensation