Maldynia : Multidisciplinary Perspectives on the Illness of Chronic Pain

An in depth examination of maldynia, also known as chronic pain, this book explores pain as a bio-cultural phenomenon that necessitates reexamination of medical philosophy, ethics, education, and practice. It provides a historical account of pain and then frames it with contemporary neurobiological perspectives. This book supplies a foundation upon which to illustrate (1) how what we know about pain could and should influence medical education, and the scope, and value (s) of medical practice, and (2) how a knowledge of the history and present considerations of pain might help to construct meaningful, patient-centered medicine.

Whether initiated by injury or disease, induced and sustained by changes in the nervous system, or manifested by society and culture, chronic pain can change one’s first-person experience of the body and the world, and ultimately impacts cognitions, emotions, and behavior. Many fine medical books address the causes and management of chronic intractable pain, but rarely do they focus on the ways that such pain creates illness and is experienced and expressed by persons in pain.

Maldynia: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on the Illness of Chronic Pain is about chronic pain that has progressed to a multidimensional illness state in and of itself. Although often dismissed as such, this pain is not imaginary, but rather represents an interaction of neurobiological processes, emotional and behavioral responses, and socio-cultural effects and reactions that become enduring elements in the life and world of the pain patient, and often remain enigmatic for those who provide care.

Taking a comprehensive approach that covers science, humanities, and culture, this volume emphasizes the need for researchers, clinicians, and caregivers to regard the ways in which chronic intractable pain becomes illness and affects a patient’s biological, social, and psychological states, as well as his or her sense of self. Edited by neuroscientist and neuroethicist James Giordano, this book contains 17 insightful chapters representing medicine, neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, ethics, history, art, and the ministry.