Abstract
How to define pain? One of the most accredited definition is certainly “An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage" (IASP (International Association for the Study of Pain - 1986) and World Health Organization (WHO) 1. However, what are the essential components of pain experience? Certainly many factors are involved such as, among others: Perceptual ability / suitability / subjective threshold; The "subjective" experience; Multidimensionality; Occasionally or chronicity. All these components have to be taken into consideration in the treatment of these disorders which, very often, require a multidisciplinary approach. From a clinical psychological point of view, much can also be offered at a diagnostic level, from the reception to listening to the patient's suffering, to the evaluation with standardized tests and psychophysiological analysis procedures in order to arrive at an effective personalization of treatments
Highlights
There is a whole series of psychological components, involved the chronic and recurrent pain that could be able to increase or decrease the pain perception
There are different facets depending on the location of the pain and inevitable consequences for the subject-patient, the family and / or the cohabitants, the socio-cultural context with a global suffering, for the patient and for those who are close to him, those structures gradually
If not for this theory, pain perception would be still associated with the intensity of the pain stimulus and the degree of damage caused to the affected tissue
Summary
There is a whole series of psychological components, involved the chronic and recurrent pain that could be able to increase or decrease the pain perception. In 1965, Ronald Melzack and Patrick Wall [2] outlined a scientific theory about psychological influence on pain perception; the ‘gate control theory’. If not for this theory, pain perception would be still associated with the intensity of the pain stimulus and the degree of damage caused to the affected tissue. Pain is perceived when the gate gives way to the pain signals and it is less intense or not at all perceived when the gate closes for the signals to pass through This theory gives the explanation for why someone finds relief by rubbing or massaging an injured or a painful area. That obviously provoke strong repercussions primarily on a physical level and at the psychological, social and working, interpersonal and relational levels and, why not, spiritual (Figure 4)
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