Pain is an annoying and unpleasant sensation.
Pain is a term that comes from Latin and indicates an annoying, afflictive and generally unpleasant sensation in the body or spirit. It can be, therefore, a sensory and objective experience ( physical pain ) or an emotional and subjective experience ( mental pain ).
All living beings that have a nervous system can feel pain, whether due to an internal or external cause. The function of pain is to alert the nervous system about a situation that could lead to injury.
Stages of pain
When experiencing pain, an organism triggers various mechanisms to limit damage, such as reflexes (rapid reactions generated at the level of the spinal cord) or general alertness ( stress ).
The first stage of physical pain is nociception . This biochemical phase involves the reaction of nerve endings (nociceptors) found in the skin, muscles, organs and blood vessels, for example.
Pain can be physical or emotional.
Classification according to type
Pain can be characterized in various ways depending on its location (abdominal pain, headache), type (stabbing, lacerating), intensity (mild, strong), etc. Acute pain is pain that lasts a short time (such as that caused by a blow ), while chronic pain extends over time (cancer pain).
Emotional pain , on the other hand, does not require a physical cause (although both pains can be related, such as a person who becomes depressed because, due to chronic hip pain, they cannot play sports). The feeling of grief or sorrow can appear due to family problems, fights, frustrations and any type of psychological disorder.
Expressions with the term pain
Within colloquial language, it must be stated that we use a multitude of expressions that use the term that we are now analyzing. Thus, we would have to refer to the following:
- Heartache . With this term what we do is make it clear that someone is suffering significant pain due to a relationship, the disappearance of a loved one, the loss of a friendship...
- Dull pain . It is a physical pain that has the peculiarity that it is not serious or very acute , but it is very annoying, since we have it present very constantly and without interruption.
- Raging with pain . Very common in our colloquial language, this verbal phrase is used to make it clear that someone is suffering from extreme pain. These are such that that person complains or screams in order, to a certain extent, to be able to alleviate their despair and suffering.
- Widow's pain . This expression has been passed down from generation to generation, referring to a very specific physical pain. It is what you experience when you receive a blow to the elbow and it has the peculiarity that it is very brief but very strong at the same time.
- Being in pain . As a general rule, this verbal expression is used colloquially to refer to certain women. Specifically, it is used to record that a woman is in labor and is suffering from the serious and strong pain that this fact entails.