PAIN MYTHS

Myth #1: "It's only subjective." Pain is a subjective construct and each individual learns the meaning of pain through early life experiences (Merskey & Bogduk, 1994). In science, an objective phenomenon is one that is "perceptible to the external senses," (Dorland's, 1994, p. 1166) while a subjective phenomenon is one that pertains to or is "perceived only by the affected individual; not perceptible to the senses of another person" (Dorland's, 1994, p. 1595). Behavioral observations and patient self-report indirectly measure subjective phenomena; direct methods, e.g., laboratory tests or radiology films, can measure objective phenomena. Physicians treat about 70% of all patients for subjective complaints (Harsha, 1990), so chronic pain patients are hardly unusual. What makes chronic pain patients unique is that they generally do not get better spontaneously. Indeed, they often do not get better after considerable intervention, especially after incorrect treatment strategies...................

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