Psychological and psychiatric aspects of pain.

The relationship of pain to personality and the significance have been discussed. Pain may first be evidence of tissue damage, secondly it may be used as a means of communicating emotional distress to others and thirdly, it may be a means of manipulating others, expressing hostility or relieving guilt. The evidence is clear that an understanding of mental life and its relation to pain is important if this symptoms is to be dealt with effectively, irrespective of whether it is physical or psychogenic in origin.