pain tolerance vs pain threshold Thursday, July 3, 2008
Pain tolerance is the amount of pain that a person can withstand before breaking down emotionally and/or physically.
Exposure to pain as tolerance booster – It is widely believed that exposing yourself to painful stimuli will increase your pain tolerance – i.e. increase your ability to handle pain by becoming more experienced with it. However, this is not true – in fact the more you expose yourself to pain, the more painful future exposures will be. Repeated exposure bombards pain synapses with repetitive input, increasing their responsiveness to later stimuli, through a process similar to learning. Therefore, although you may learn cognitive methods of coping with pain, these methods may not be sufficient to cope with the boosted response you will show to future painful stimuli. Because of this, it is advisable to try to give trauma victims (or any patient in pain) pain-killers (such as morphine)as soon as possible – to prevent pain sensitisation. (see “Biological Psychology, ninth edition” by James W. Khalat for more information – p209-, the mechanical senses).
Pain tolerance is distinct from a pain threshold. The minimum stimulus necessary to produce pain is the pain threshold. One’s pain tolerance is the level of pain needed to force a person to ‘give up’.
Pet peeve Thursday, July 3, 2008
It’s a pet peeve of mine when people try to explain to me that we’re arguing or not getting along or no longer friends because: “I’m a different person now than when you knew me.”
As though we’re not all constantly changing and growing – not constantly in flux and learning and making mistakes. And as though the kind of change that can happen after spending a few months apart is the kind of change that negates any bond we shared before.
well I wanted to know Thursday, July 3, 2008
So I just got in touch with two people who used to be very close to me. It has been a few months since we spoke or had any kind of contact, and I was hoping that time had healed all wounds.
Turns out:
Nope!
I really sincerely care about both of them, and I’m very happy for them and I want to hear about both of their lives, but it’s been difficult to reconcile that with how much I was hurt by them back in January.
I simultaneously want to eagerly listen to this woman’s triumphs and celebrate her joys with her… and to make her life a tragedy. It’s horrible. And it made me decide that no matter how much I wish her the best, I’m just not ready to be any kind of friend to her. So I told her, in a somewhat brusque manner: a little more time.
I don’t have quite the same reaction with the other person. He happens to be my ex-boyfriend and first love. He hurt me, too, very much. But somehow I’m able to acknowledge the sucky times and remain more than civil: warmhearted.
It disturbs me very much that I can’t do that with this woman, K. It makes me question my definition of friendship, the nature of love, and my own ability to forgive.
If I could talk to her now, I would tell her that I’m sorry that I’m not capable of being a bigger person. I hope she can understand my reasons for not being able to be there as a friend – or even acquaintance – just yet, and my reasons for thinking I was. I also want her to know that I genuinely value her as a human being, and I hope to be friends with her again some day (although I don’t know if it’s possible).
But now I have no way of getting in touch with this woman with whom I have such a painful bond. I just hope she reads this blog, or that someone sends her the link (AHEM).
The divine Miss E Thursday, July 3, 2008
a sore spot i keep touching
expecting enlightenment
and all i’m getting
is a deeper bruise
