Pain is a complex and distressing experience and its management has always been a crucial component of palliative care treatment. Research is making progress in understanding the mechanisms of pain and for today’s blog, Alejandro Quiroz Troncoso and Maria Teresa Carrillo from the PAINLESS research project tell us about a paper by Dirk De Ridder and colleagues which makes a significant contribution to our understanding of pain.
When you hurt your toe and exclaim “ouch!”, it’s your brain signaling that something is wrong, that attention is needed. That sharp pain is easy to understand: you’ve hurt yourself. But what happens when the pain doesn’t go away after months, or when the suffering you feel doesn’t come from a visible injury? This mystery of chronic pain is a shadow we need to unveil. Recent research, such as The Anatomy of Pain and Suffering in the Brain and Its Clinical Implications by De Ridder et al.1, take us on a fascinating journey through our brain to discover what is happening to our body and mind.
For a long time, we’ve thought of pain solely as a signal that something is wrong in our body. However, pain is much more complex. It is not just an alert or a warning signal; it’s an interpretation by our brain, which includes both sensory and emotional aspects. That’s why some people, even without a clear physical injury, can experience persistent pain that stays like an unwanted guest.
In the complexity of pain arises suffering, the unpleasant experience that negatively impacts us cognitively and emotionally. This suffering is when pain mixes with emotions such as fear, sadness, frustration, or anxiety. New research has managed to understand how the brain processes emotions associated with pain and why we can be overwhelmed by emotions even when the physical pain is not so intense. In this journey through the brain, Dirk de Ridder1 shows us that there are specific pathways that handle pain and suffering. Imagine three highways in your brain: one for physical pain, another for emotional suffering, and a third that tries to soothe the pain. The interesting part here is that you can feel pain without emotional suffering and vice versa and that we have many tools in our brain to control pain! This helps us understand why people experience chronic pain differently, and why treatment cannot be the same for everyone.
Understanding these mechanisms is fascinating as it has a real impact on how we treat chronic pain and suffering. It invites us to look beyond physical symptoms and consider a person’s emotional and mental state too. The ways we have developed to respond to threats in the past can contribute to pain being experienced beyond what might be seen as the normal period of healing. So, we have to keep in mind the complexity of the human experience, as different aspects of our lives can both cause pain but also aid in our recovery too. Each discovery brings us closer to helping people lead fuller, less painful lives, highlighting the incredible capacity for adaptation and resilience of the human being.
The EAPC is delighted to be a core partner in a range of large EU-funded studies, with knowledge transfer and stakeholder engagement as primary focuses. To learn more about the EAPC role in this, and other projects, click here.
Reference
1De Ridder, D., Adhia, D., & Vanneste, S. (2021) The anatomy of pain and suffering in the brain and its clinical implications, Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews, 130, 125–146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.08.013
Links and resources
- Read The anatomy of pain and suffering in the brain and its clinical implications by Dirk De Ridder and colleagues
- Read the BrainFacts’s blog Living with Chronic Pain
- PAINLESS is an European Union funded initiative committed to enhancing the understanding of cancer pain and improving the quality of life for individuals through neuromodulation. Find out more here and keep updated on this research through Twitter @EuPainless and LinkedIn.
About the authors
Alejandro Quiroz Troncoso, odontologist, holds a Master’s degree in Neuroscience from the University of Santiago de Compostela. He is currently studying for a Master’s in Biomedical Research at the University of Santiago de Compostela and works as Communication Advisor for the PAINLESS Project. LinkedIn: @Alejandro Quiroz Troncoso.
Maria Teresa Carrillo, PhD in Psychology, Full Professor at the University of Santiago de Compostela and group leader of the Brain and Pain Lab. She has extensive research experience in the fields of cognitive neuroscience, pain, cancer and neurostimulation. She is the general coordinator of the PAINLESS Project. ORCID ID: 0000-0001-6940-2460. LinkedIn: @M. Teresa Carrillo-de-la-Peña.
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