The Acultural Dimensions of Chronic Pain: Flawed Reality Construction and the Problem of Meaning

Abstract

Pain folklore is inadequate to make sense of chronic pain. As a result, chronic pain sufferers feel frustrated and socially isolated. They encounter further difficulties in social settings, where problems regarding the management of pain remain unsolved. They cannot find refuge in retreating to certain knowledge of their private inner states, for their troubles are located not in pain but in language and culture. The problems of chronic pain sufferers suggest a form of suffering which transcends physical pain.