1. Pain A PowerPoint by Greta Melcher

2. “Pain alters the quality of life more than any other health- related problem. It interferes with sleep, mobility, nutrition, thought, sexual activity, emotional well-being, creativity, and self-actualization” [NursingCEU.com].

3. What does Pain look like? On the outside pain can look something like this: and feel like the inside looks like this:

4. But this is what’s really going on inside of your body when you experience an injury.

5. How does it work? Nociceptors, or nerves that sense possible damage, are all over the body. When they are activated, they send messages to the spinal chord, and then to the brain. The stronger the stimuli, the greater the chemical reaction in the receptors, and the more intense the pain. Different types of pain are transferred to the brain at different speeds, depending on severity.

6. How does it work? The spinal chord interprets the message and assigns low or high priority to a certain pain, and signals other nervous systems to help out, like motor nerves that help you move away from the pain source. The pain message arrives first at the thalamus, deep inside of the brain, and then moves to cerebral cortex and the limbic center. At this point you begin to feel the pain and the emotions that come with it. The brain locates the pain and decides on the best steps of action.

7. What kinds of Pain are there? Acute pain is the pain you feel when experiencing an injury. It is the body’s warning to your brain telling you to take action. Pain level can vary, and increase in blood pressure and pulse rates accompany acute pain. Acute pain goes away as the wound heals. Example: You would feel acute pain when you touch a heated stove. The pain you feel is a warning that your brain interprets. You then pull your hand away from the harmful object, and the burn on your hand would heal with time.

8. What kinds of Pain are there? Chronic pain is pain where the source is unidentifiable. It continues after the visible injuries have healed, and is often felt near tumors. Having chronic pain for long periods of time can lead to decreased blood pressure and heart rate. Example: You would feel chronic pain if you had a cancerous tumor. You would not be able to pinpoint the location of the pain, so your body would not react the same way it instictively does to acute pain. There would be no obvious wound or injury, and the pain could continue for long periods of time. http://www.youtu be.com/watch?v= kmdYt0OAJbs&f eature=related

9. What kinds of Pain are there? Emotional pain is pain that cannot be seen, and is felt after events like the loss of a loved one, or when experiencing depression. Depression is the result of brain neurons not functioning properly and becoming too toxic, so at least some forms of emotional pain can be tracked like physical pain through the brain. However, emotional pain for less severe situations have not been studied in depth. Example: You would feel emotional pain if your best friend died. There would be no physical damage to your body, but emotional pain can still be severe and affect your ability to function in other areas of life. http://w ww.yout ube.com /watch?v =b3fX96 OugmA

10. Can animals feel Pain? Animals have similar pain detectors, brain processing of pain, and pain behaviors to humans. However, it is debatable as to how conscious they really are to their pain, and whether or not animals can feel emotional pain Some animals like dogs, cats, birds, and monkeys have shown strong signs of depression, like lack of motivation or anorexia, suggesting they are capable of emotional pain as well as physical.

11. Congenital Insensitivity to Pain CIPA is a very rare and extremely dangerous condition. People with CIPA cannot feel pain. These people’s pain-sensing nerves are not properly connected the part of their brain that recieves the pain messages. CIPA is extremely dangerous, and most cases don’t live past 25. Pain is our warning that our body is being harmed or that we are sick, and if you don’t realize when you are in pain or sick, you can’t get the help that you need. People with CIPA also cannot feel extreme temperatures, or sweat, both creating even more necessary care.

12. What does Pain have to do with Art? People can use their art to express their pain and the emotions that come from it. Art can be an enormous part of the healing process, such as art therapy. Art can make pain more bearable. Experiencing extreme pain can have an affect on your aesthetic. Depending on the person, this can mean different things, such as –Wanting to create art that is beautiful for others in pain to enjoy –Creating art that expresses the pain they have felt –Using art to explore the emotions of their pain, etc. During the Great Depression, artists documented and expressed their physical and emotional pain through art.

13. A great example of pain in art, and pain becoming a part of a person’s aesthetic is Frida Kahlo. Frida had many operations, some miscarriages, and trouble with her marriage. She put all of these pains, physical and emotional, into her art. In this way she could express the parts of her pain that words weren’t capable of expressing. A great number of her works feature images or symbols of the pain she dealt with throughout her life.

14. More of Frida’s work:

15. Bibliography http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/en/pain/microsite/cult ure2.htmlhttp://www.wellcome.ac.uk/en/pain/microsite/cult ure2.html http://www.nursingceu.com/courses/214/index_nc eu.htmlhttp://www.nursingceu.com/courses/214/index_nc eu.html http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/story?id=138 6322http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/story?id=138 6322 http://www.pain-free-living.org/overview.html http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1850 The Marshall Cavendish Encyclopedia of Family Health Volume 7