Is there such a thing as psychological pain? And why it matters.
Medicine regards pain as a signal of physical injury to the body despite evidence contradicting the linkage and despite the exclusion of vast numbers of sufferers who experience psychological pain. By broadening our concept of pain and making it more inclusive, we would not only better accommodate the basic science of pain but also would recognize what is already appreciated by the layperson--that pain from diverse sources, physical and psychological, share an underlying felt structure.
Biro
David
D
SUNY Health Science Center at Brooklyn, 450 Clarkson Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11203, USA, davidbiro@aol.com
D003863:Depression; D006117:Grief; D006801:Humans; D009619:Nociceptors; D010146:Pain / Q000523:psychology*; D011602:Psychophysiologic Disorders / Q000523:psychology*