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Evil and Pain: A Multi-modal View to Approach Pain-Related Conditions

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Evil in the Modern World

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Abstract

Chronic pain is a condition that should be regarded as a syndrome, if not a disease. Chronic pain patients tend to develop psychological discomforts mostly due to lack of acceptance, disbelief, blame, whereas psychopathological conditions (such as anxiety and depression) most frequently are a consequence of it. Anger and virtual aggression behavior are often addressed toward caregivers who seem not to do enough for helping. Related to anger, impulsive behavior might increase the risk for analgesic abuse or drug dependence in such patients. Suicidal ideation has to be sought particularly in those chronic pain patients who have a family history of mental diseases, previous attempts to suicide, presence of comorbid depression. Positive empathy by family members may contribute to reducing the burden of pain. Conversely, empathy for catastrophizing attitude or “addiction to pain” may reinforce and worsen negative feeling and hamper the rehabilitation outcome of chronic pain patients. Motivation to affiliate with others suffering from stress conditions may, instead, render a person more sympathetic and mediate moral judgment, transforming the pain into a positive psychosocial function. The complexity of pathophysiology of pain, along with the wide range of factors potentially responsible for a more complex suffering condition, deserves attention and multidisciplinary interventions to favor improvement and acceptance. Chronic pain occurring after having been a victim of physical aggression, torture, or persecution raises the issue of evil as a cause of pain in its worst representation when evil and its consequences stem from a social group attacking another on racial, social, gender, religious, political, or other grounds. Pain syndromes deserve a thorough examination of all possible causes to obtain a personalized adequate approach. Cultural, spiritual, geographical, and ethnological issues should not be neglected since they are related to the personal experiencing of suffering conditions and require deep knowledge for better treatment in the long run.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Headache Centre and Post-coma Unit, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy

    Maria Gabriella Buzzi

  2. Tor Vergata University, Rome, Italy

    Adriano Purgato

  3. Neuroelectrical Imaging and BCI Laboratory, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy

    Mariagrazia D’Ippolito

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  1. Maria Gabriella Buzzi
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  2. Adriano Purgato
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  3. Mariagrazia D’Ippolito
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Correspondence to Maria Gabriella Buzzi .

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  1. Rosemead School of Psychology, Biola University, La Mirada, CA, USA

    Laura Dryjanska

  2. Rome, Italy

    Giorgio Pacifici

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Buzzi, M.G., Purgato, A., D’Ippolito, M. (2022). Evil and Pain: A Multi-modal View to Approach Pain-Related Conditions. In: Dryjanska, L., Pacifici, G. (eds) Evil in the Modern World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91888-0_2

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