title: [Medicine and pain: history of a relationship].
abstract: The vagueness surrounding the terms "suffering" and "pain" invites us to reflect upon the relationships between a physiological fact and a constitutive dimension of the human experience. History shows a constant medical preoccupation facing pain as a clinical symptom, endowed with a rich terminology, many ways of relieving pain and speculations on its diagnostic value. In the contemporary era, pain is revealed as a proper scientific object. This development accompanies an evolution of medical practices on pain that, far from representing continuous progress, adopts rather uneven and sometimes surprising outlines. As a whole, medicine is characterised by an important ambivalence when confronting pain, valuating it as an useful auxiliary or on the contrary denying the painful experience.
authors: Vincent
authors: V
authors: Barras
mesh_terms: D000698:Analgesia / Q000266:history / Q000639:trends; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049690:History, Ancient; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D010146:Pain / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000266:history*; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000266:history; D011364:Professional Practice / Q000266:history