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The story of pain : from prayer to painkillers / Joanna Bourke.

by Bourke, Joanna.

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Oxford University Press, 2014.

Pain perception.

Pain -- Psychological aspects.

Pain -- History.

English language -- 18th century.

Suffering -- Religious aspects.

Suffering -- History.

9780199689422 (hc.)

0199689423 (hc.)

Alternate title:

Pain : from prayer to painkillers

x, 396 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Includes bibliographical references (pages 302-383) and index.

Estrangement -- Metaphor -- Religion -- Diagnosis -- Gesture -- Sentience -- Sympathy -- Pain relief.

"Everyone knows what is feels like to be in pain. Scraped knees, toothaches, migraines, giving birth, cancer, heart attacks, and heartaches: pain permeates our entire lives. We also witness other people - loved ones - suffering, and we 'feel with' them. It is easy to assume this is the end of the story: 'pain-is-pain-is-pain'. But the way people respond to what they describe as 'painful' has changed considerably over time. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, for example, people believed that pain served a specific (and positive) function - it was a message from God or Nature; it would perfect the spirit. Nothing could be more removed from twentieth and twenty-first century understandings, where pain is regarded as an unremitting evil to be 'fought'. Focusing on the English-speaking world, this book tells the story of pain since the eighteenth century, addressing fundamental questions about the experience and nature of suffering over the last three centuries. How have people learnt to conduct themselves when suffering? How do friends and family react?"--Provided by publisher.

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