JanAtheCPA
Beloved Grand Eagle
From the Guardian, so no paywall. Also not too long. AND... Lorimer Moseley!
Some takeaways:
“Of course pain is in your head. It’s in your brain. You know, it’s the brain that is where you get that experience … It’s never all physical.”
"In ancient Greece the Algea, the gods of physical pain, were also gods associated with psychic pain – with grief and distress. But in the 1600s the French philosopher René Descartes set western thinking on a different course," asserting that the mind and body were separate entities.
"... the same person can have two entirely different reactions to pain-inducing events in different contexts."
“The best coping techniques will be different for different individuals and will be different across different contexts”
The psychological elements are becoming more widely understood. “One thing we know is perhaps the strongest predictor of pain tolerance is how people think about pain,” Day says.“If we think ‘this is terrible, this is awful, it’s going to do me serious damage’ – those types of people will have lower tolerance.” This includes people who tend to be anxious or who catastrophise pain."
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jul/14/the-fascinating-science-of-pain-and-why-everyone-feels-it-differently (The fascinating science of pain – and why everyone feels it differently)
Some takeaways:
“Of course pain is in your head. It’s in your brain. You know, it’s the brain that is where you get that experience … It’s never all physical.”
"In ancient Greece the Algea, the gods of physical pain, were also gods associated with psychic pain – with grief and distress. But in the 1600s the French philosopher René Descartes set western thinking on a different course," asserting that the mind and body were separate entities.
"... the same person can have two entirely different reactions to pain-inducing events in different contexts."
“The best coping techniques will be different for different individuals and will be different across different contexts”
The psychological elements are becoming more widely understood. “One thing we know is perhaps the strongest predictor of pain tolerance is how people think about pain,” Day says.“If we think ‘this is terrible, this is awful, it’s going to do me serious damage’ – those types of people will have lower tolerance.” This includes people who tend to be anxious or who catastrophise pain."
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jul/14/the-fascinating-science-of-pain-and-why-everyone-feels-it-differently (The fascinating science of pain – and why everyone feels it differently)