MAY 2017:  Mental Health Awareness Month

Good Evening Blog Readers & Followers ~  We have been discussing the serious issue of Mental Health this month, and we will continue doing so for the rest of the month.

Tonight we will be shifting gears to discuss "pain".  There are various types of pain as we all know.  There is physical pain, emotional pain, psychological pain, spiritual pain, and mental pain.

Pain is a sensory experience that is highly subjective to the individual. Amplified pain syndrome is characterized as an individual's response to a seemingly mild sensory experience and processes it as an intense pain signal.

To go a bit further, Amplified musculoskeletal pain syndromes are pain syndromes where excessive, acute and chronic pain are observed for which no overt primary cause can be found or surmised.

Below is a chart from a Fibromyal Lecture in 2010:

Pain is a distressing feeling often caused by intense or damaging stimuli, such as stubbing a toe, burning a finger, putting alcohol on a cut, or bumping the "funny bone". Because it is a complex, subjective phenomenon, defining pain has been a challenge.  The International Association for the Study of Pain's widely used definition states: "Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage."  In medical diagnosis, pain is regarded as a symptom of an underlying condition.

PAIN - points

Let us look at the following definitions of pain . . .

1.

physical suffering or distress, as due to injury, illness, etc.

2.

a distressing sensation in a particular part of the body:

a back pain.

3.

mental or emotional suffering or torment

NOTE:  Psychological pain or mental pain is an unpleasant feeling (a suffering) of a psychological, non-physical origin.  A pioneer in the field of suicidology, Edwin S. Shneidman, described it as "how much you hurt as a human being.  It is mental suffering; mental torment."

The pain of mental suffering-mental torment

In palliative care, understanding and managing emotional or spiritual pain is as important as managing physical pain.  We know from speaking to people living with a terminal illness, and their families and friends, that emotional or spiritual pain is common regardless of religion, beliefs or culture.

There are also cultural overlays of how to express pain, to whom, and when.  “Physical” pain associated with particular areas of the body may be a culturally accepted way of expressing stress that everyone recognizes and addresses without having to confront difficult social issues directly.

Defining Spiritual Pain and Distress

It is to be expected that “spiritual” pain is just as elusive and difficult to quantify, although researchers are attempting to do so (Mako et al 2006).  Spiritual pain is described in NANDA (1994:49) as the “disruption in the principle which pervades a person’s entire being and which integrates and transcends one’s biological and psychosocial nature.”

Anandarajah and Hight (2001) note that "spiritual distress and spiritual crisis" occur when a person is "unable to find sources of meaning, hope, love, peace, comfort, strength, and connection in life or when conflict occurs between their beliefs and what is happening in their life.  Sources list multiple defining characteristics of spiritual distress that may cause or indicate the presence of spiritual pain.  Stoll (1989) and Pehler (1997) list similar defining characteristics, although Pehler also includes characteristics from several other studies.  For both, the major characteristic was an expression of concern with the meaning of life/death or any belief system.

The lists included, but were not limited to anger toward God, questioning the meaning of suffering or the meaning of one's own existence, verbal comments regarding an inner conflict about beliefs or about one's relationship with a deity, an inability to participate in one's usual religious practices, and more.

Spiritual Pain ~ Spiritual Distress

There are many levels of pain that can be discussed as it relates to mental health.  What we will do is go into various aspects of the topic of "pain" in relation to mental health in our next Blog Session.

One important area that we will focus on in our next Blog Session as it relates to our mental health is:  Loss, Grief, and Bereavement.

Until we meet again, please remember to make notes in your Journals, Diaries and Notebooks on the areas that we have covered today.  In addition, do not forget to Journal your feelings, thoughts, emotions, questions and activities for today.

FOR NOW . . .

Peace, Love & Light,

 René

©Copyright - René Allen - MAY 2017 - All Rights Reserved