This is the first in a series of posts about SD Pain 2023. Over the coming weeks I'll be exploring pain, power, justice, knowledge, ethics and all sorts of good stuff.
Really looking forward to reading upcoming posts. This was a great start! Power and Justice are so important when it comes to pain. I think about how there are racial disparities in many chronic pain conditions (such as migraine) and how the social part of the BSP model of pain may influence this health disparity. Lots to think about!
Loved reading this and looking forwards to more through this lens. You have such a skill for articulating the thoughts, feelings and reflections of a person living with pain experiencing healthcare that in the large claims to be 'patient centred'. Yet the contradiction is immediately obvious as soon as the therapist starts their, often 'therapist centred' questions and the person who is supposedly at the centre is told what is wrong with them and how the therapist will get them better.
Pain is so complicated even the definition gets longer the more we understand about it. Surely the best place to start is on solid ground like what Peter O'Sullivan suggests with "tell me your story" then listen because the only truth we can be certain of initially is what the person at the centre feels, thinks and believes is happening.
A big thing I struggle with is the craving for certainty both from myself and from a lot of people I help who are in pain. Pain is seen as the invader to their life to be eradicated with a certain plan (not that dissimilar to how we deal with a cancer). Which if I'm not careful takes the person from the centre and puts the pain there which I haven't found useful.
Striking the right balance between validating and acknowledging the pain and suffering whilst helping someone move forwards with their life is a never ending quest because we are all unique and finding ways to harness that as an asset is one of the things I love most about my job.
Thanks for writing like you do it's such a talent you have and really helps people like me get great insight into how we keep the most important person at the centre of care, not everyone living with pain is as able to express their self awareness like you can xx
This was such a great conference and so helpful to see your summary! The talks shared here have stayed with me ever since, I still find myself thinking about wach one. Xx
Really looking forward to reading upcoming posts. This was a great start! Power and Justice are so important when it comes to pain. I think about how there are racial disparities in many chronic pain conditions (such as migraine) and how the social part of the BSP model of pain may influence this health disparity. Lots to think about!
Loved reading this and looking forwards to more through this lens. You have such a skill for articulating the thoughts, feelings and reflections of a person living with pain experiencing healthcare that in the large claims to be 'patient centred'. Yet the contradiction is immediately obvious as soon as the therapist starts their, often 'therapist centred' questions and the person who is supposedly at the centre is told what is wrong with them and how the therapist will get them better.
Pain is so complicated even the definition gets longer the more we understand about it. Surely the best place to start is on solid ground like what Peter O'Sullivan suggests with "tell me your story" then listen because the only truth we can be certain of initially is what the person at the centre feels, thinks and believes is happening.
A big thing I struggle with is the craving for certainty both from myself and from a lot of people I help who are in pain. Pain is seen as the invader to their life to be eradicated with a certain plan (not that dissimilar to how we deal with a cancer). Which if I'm not careful takes the person from the centre and puts the pain there which I haven't found useful.
Striking the right balance between validating and acknowledging the pain and suffering whilst helping someone move forwards with their life is a never ending quest because we are all unique and finding ways to harness that as an asset is one of the things I love most about my job.
Thanks for writing like you do it's such a talent you have and really helps people like me get great insight into how we keep the most important person at the centre of care, not everyone living with pain is as able to express their self awareness like you can xx
This was such a great conference and so helpful to see your summary! The talks shared here have stayed with me ever since, I still find myself thinking about wach one. Xx