Four 1 Student Four Jeannine Stanko English Composition 2 8 November 2012 Pain: Worse Psychologically or Physically?

Pain is a tormenting distress that can be caused physically or emotionally, but would one prefer to have the worse psychological pain or the worse physical pain? I prefer to have the worst possible physical pain over psychological. Psychological pain is iternal; therefore, if could possibly be harder to treat and can lead them to self-physical pain. Also, the chances of having self-control are slim. Physical pain is external, and it can be more easily treated because they can control their actions. In other words, having the worst physical pain is better than having the worst psychological pain because one has more self-control, it is less likely to be terminal, and psychological pain will most likely lead to physical pain. Imagine not being able to control what you say or do....I do not believe there is anything more critical than that. With physical pain, there is still awareness of what is going on. Psychologist did a study by choosing student volunteers to reminisce tragic physical and emotional pain. After, there was a series of questions that they answered that determined whether physical pain was worse or psychological. The students were asked to note how long ago the event happened, how much it hurt at the time, how many times they had talked about the experience, and how painful the experience felt now. Participants in the emotional pain condition reported higher levels of pain than participants in the physical pain condition (Irvine, 2008). Throughout the questionnaires, psychologists were not astounded to see that psychological pain was the worse pain to experience of the two.

Four 2 Having self-control limits the possibility of inflicting more physical pain on oneself. If one is experiencing the worse possible psychological pain, they are more likely to react without a normal thought process. An example would be a person who is continuously drunk, does not think before they speak, and has no control of their actions. Treating someone who cannot control their thoughts and actions is very difficult and takes special practice and time. Similar cases of people with psychological pain need different individual attention each time. Someone who is physically in pain requires repetitive treatment. Meaning if there were two similar cases where someone lost their legs, they would both receive the same treatment; therefore, physical pain is not as complex, but can still be detrimental. Psychological pain can be very misleading and untreatable. Most physical pain can be treated within a reasonable time, whereas psychological pain usually recommends sessions and can affect time management. Furthermore, all the time and effort put forth for psychological disorders may not even heal someone completely and can even have a negative effect on their way of thinking. With physical pain, one has awareness, cognitive thinking, and interpretation. These factors direct people to avoid or seek actions that could cause harm towards themselves. Someone who has no self-control can cause physical harm on anyone without having any recollection. One would be considered fatally dangerous without self-awareness and interpretation. Without these factors, they are ignorant to any of their following actions. This is known as psychogenic pain. Psychogenic pain is associated with psychological factors. Some types of mental or emotional problems can cause, increase or prolong pain. This means that the brain can be controlled by emotions and lead to a long duration of pain. There are many different types of pain, but physical pain rarely leads to psychological pain because one has control and awareness of their brain. Psychological and emotional pain

Four 3 does not have any awareness and are unable to control what they say or do, which could possibly lead to physical pain; therefore, pain is negative either way, but having consciousness of what one is doing is better to have of the two.

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Works Cited Dehghani, Mohsen, Louise Sharpe, and Michael K Nicholas. Structural Evaluation of the Contemporary Psychological Models of Chronic Pain: Does Fear Of Pain Work For All?. Cognitive Behavior Therapy 39.3 (2010): 214 224. MEDLINE. Web. 10 Nov. 2012

Linton, Steven J., and William S. Shaw. Impact of Psychological Factors In The Experience Of Pain. Physical Therapy 91.5 (2011): 700 711. Academic Search Premier. Web. 10 Nov. 2012.

Riva, Paolo, James H. Wirth, and Kipling D. Williams. The Consequences of Pain: The Social And Physical Pain Overlap On Psychological Responses. European Journal of Social Psychology 41.6 (2011): 681 687. Academic Search Premier. Web. 10 Nov. 2012.

Psychogenic Pain Disorder: Types, Diagnosis, and Treatment. WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2012. <http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/guide/pain-management-psychogenic-pain>.