The ultimate pain killer

Birth, fractures, abscesses ... when we feel the pangs, we suffer alone. Gene therapy may ease the effects.

"The greatest mistake in the treatment of diseases is that there are physicians for the body and physicians for the soul, although the two cannot be separated." - Plato

The experience and treatment of pain is one area of human health to which Plato's body and mind philosophy can be applied.

When a person experiences pain, whether the sharp and sudden pangs of acute pain or the exhaustion and depression of persistent pain, it can be extremely difficult for them to accept that only they can understand their pain.

"Pain is an entirely subjective human experience," says Professor Michael Cousins, director of the Pain Management Research Institute in Sydney. "The only person who knows what the experience of pain is, is that individual.

"You can't second-guess your neighbour's pain. There are a lot of misconceived ideas about it. People might say, 'She doesn't look as though she is in pain.' But what does a person in pain look like? It is very different for different people."

Cousins's pain institute was established in 1990. Two years ago, it identified pain as a disease in its own right, with its own set of symptoms and side-effects.

The ultimate pain killer