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What Is Pain?

Pain is something that everyone feels at one point in their lives. A person's pain threshold is completely different from the next person. No two people experience pain the same way. "Unlike other sensations, pain can arise from intense stimulation in sensory pathways." ( Zimbardo PG 185) Pain is always subjective. People learn the application of this word through their own personal experiences. Pain can be helped. It can be eased and sometimes vanished completely. Most pain goes untreated or improperly treated. People do not have to suffer needlessly with their pain.   With the medical know how and skills available today pain can be managed and cured.
"The anterior cingulated cortex in the brain has been found to be the place where pain signals from different pathways converge."(Zimbardo PG 185)   A persons response to pain involves " an interplay of biochemistry, nerve impulses and culturural factors.'( Zimbardo PG 185) A person's personality influences their response to pain.
There are two main forms of pain. The first is acute pain. It is described as "sharp or sudden thrust of pain"(Webster Dic. PG267) One common form of acute pain would be headaches. Headaches usually come on suddenly with no warning. Although headaches can be eased and are not permanent they can affect a person in so many ways. "Pain is affected by experience and circumstance. A person who is unhappy may find a headache unbearable, while another person in a more satisfactory job considers a headache merely annoying." (Zimbardo PG. 186) When you touch the handle of a pot cooking on a hot stove you feel this acute pain of being burnt. By the time your brain sends the signal, of releasing the handle, your hand will have already paid the consequences. The acute pain you feel with the minor burn will have classically conditioned you. Your brain now knows that when you touch the handle of a pot cooking on a hot stove you will be burnt and you will feel acute pain. Acute pain helps a person...