BEFORE WE GET IN TOO DEEP, let’s talk about what pain is, exactly. You know it’s an uncomfortable physical feeling, but it’s actually much more than that. In fact, the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) defines pain as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage.” The IASP goes on to point out that the lived feeling of pain is shaped by biological, psychological, and social factors, so your version of pain will always be different from that of your spouse or sibling—a sensation you describe as merely annoying could have them reeling in agony.
As, well, painful as it may be, though, pain does serve a purpose. “Pain is fundamentally our harm alarm,” says Sean Mackey, M.D.,…