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Proposed New Definition of Pain #DefinitionOfPain
Submit your comments here by 11:59 ET (UTC/GMT -4) on 11 September 2019.
DefinitionOfPain
Proposed New Definition of Pain:
An aversive sensory and emotional experience typically caused by, or resembling that caused by, actual or potential tissue injury.
Proposed Accompanying Notes Section:
Pain is always a subjective experience that is influenced to varying degrees by biological, psychological, and social factors.
Pain and nociception are different phenomena: the experience of pain cannot be reduced to activity in sensory pathways.
Through their life experiences, individuals learn the concept of pain and its applications.
A person’s report of an experience as pain should be accepted as such and respected.
Although pain usually serves an adaptive role, it may have adverse effects on function and social and psychological well-being.
Verbal description is only one of several behaviors to express pain; inability to communicate does not negate the possibility that a human or a non-human animal experiences pain.
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French peine, from Latin poena (penalty, punishment), in turn from Greek poinē (payment, penalty, recompense).
IASP Taxonomy Task Force