Pain is both a physical and emotional experience, much more than just the body's nerve response to an injury or a change in a function of the body. Pain is a complex experience that is very personal (and sometimes isolating) for the individual person. It is invariably influenced by a person's beliefs, culture, ideas, fears and feelings.
For the last 20 years or so, the concept of pain has been recognised as being what a person says it is, existing when they say it does and being as painful as they say they feel it. How an individual person views different types of pain will alter the way they react to that pain, and ultimately affect how they will feel about that pain after the experience.
The anticipation or the 'expectation' of pain can increase anxiety levels in a person and therefore increase the intensity of how they perceive the pain when it comes. For a woman who is fearful and anxious about labour, the need for pain relief can be higher. It has also been suggested that women who feel they are in control of decisions about what is happening to them in labour, will perceive their pain as less intense and less threatening, as well feel more positive about the labour experience after the birth.
Pain is something you alone can feel,
but having love around you when feeling your pain,
can lessen it.
The authors