These learning objective are quite specific. You should be able to provide a convincing argument for considering pain as an emergent property of the perceptual process, citing relevant examples of pain experience which illustrate this. There are four identifiable dimensions to the experience of pain (sensory, emotional, cognitive, behavioural), and it is therefore more complex than simple nociceptive sensation can explain. The concept of pain desynchrony is a clinical example of how pain experience can fluctuate independently of health status. Finally, you should be able to offer a social explanation for the patterns of behaviour seen in pain.

Informally, it is hoped this lecture will make you think more deeply about the experience of being a person, and to continue to identify you r own subjective experience as the reference against which to judge the validity of explanations of that subjective experience that rely on naive conceptualization.

As a clinician, reports of “pain” are one of the most frequent problems you will encounter. This makes the model you hold of what pain is very important Why? Because how you practice as a clinician will be influenced by your understanding of the conditions you are managing. If you work with inadequate models , you will frequently be ineffective as a doctor, and your patients will not be happy with you.