Pain: An Individually Unique Conscious Experience

Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre 

Understanding a first-person conscious experience from a third person perspective represents a major philosophical challenge. However, in the case of pain, it represents a major real-world challenge with substantial implications for the diagnosis and treatment of the conditions giving rise to pain. In many instances, the underlying tissue or nervous system injury either remains inaccessible to conventional diagnostic techniques and/or the pain arising from such conditions is remarkable disassociated from the assessment of degree of tissue damage. Psychophysical assessments provide a structured tool for allowing the communication of the first-person experience to a third person observer. However, the responses of pain measurement tools have long been frequently dismissed, particularly in women and minoritized groups. Thus, there has long been a desire from both patients and providers for an objective measure of pain. Early neuroimaging studies showed substantial promise in achieving this objective. However, more recent evidence with adequately powered studies of diverse participants suggests the goal of an objective measure of pain remains profoundly difficult to accomplish and underscores the need for novel approaches.