Pain and meaning: the modulation of suffering

Pain is not only a physiological fact, but also a fact of life which affects a man/woman, marked by his/her generation, social and cultural membership, its religious references, story of his/her life, etc. The meaning conferred to his suffering by an individual in pain also determines his very relationship to the pain. The suffering always stems from powerlessness, it feels unbearable. It arises whenever the pain destroys the individual's capacities of resistance, when he loses control and feels his existence defeated. It implies a threatened identity and feeling for the worst. On the other hand when the individual chooses to integrate the pain or when he accepts it, then the part of suffering becomes often marginal, it is the price to be paid for an experience of another kind. Undergone pain is always destructive, deliberate or accepted pain a frequent ingredient in a strong and happy experience.