ABSTRACT

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It has been said that “pain upsets and destroys the nature of the person who feels it” (Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics). Centuries have come and gone, and the message behind this statement still rings true for individuals who suffer from persistent pain. Philosophers, physicians, and psychologists alike have struggled with the issue of how to best deal with and treat people suffering from pain. Historically, one argument was given by Descartes (1596–1650), who ushered in a new paradigm of viewing the human experience with his argument that the mind or “soul” was separate from the physical body, and that the mind was a passive, dependent entity, incapable of directly affecting either physical or somatic processes (Gatchel, 1999). Damasio (1994) claimed that Descartes’s ideas of such a separation between the mind and body “have shaped the peculiar way in which Western medicine approaches the study and treatment of diseases” (p. 251). Even in today’s health care system, psychologically based problems or contributing factors are often disregarded, while the diseased body part is examined solely as the cause of pain and illness.

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