Re-Designing Chronic Primary Pain: Looking at Other Disciplines to Help the Pain Bearers and Pain Specialists Manage Pain

Background and aims: Chronic pain is a prevalent disability that is often misunderstood in social and cultural contexts. Despite the efforts of the EFIC and the IASP to disseminate knowledge on chronic pain, its mechanisms remain challenging to understand, and its management is not always effective. The subjective nature of the pain experience, which is unique to each individual and cannot be fully conveyed to others, is one of the biggest hurdles. Chronic primary pain (CPP) is a disease that lacks underlying causes, which limits our ability to develop a comprehensive understanding of it. However, we must strive to broaden our understanding of CPP to better manage pain in all contexts. To comprehend, treat, and live with CPP, a multidisciplinary approach is required because it is a multilayered phenomenon.
Methods: This study adopts the integrative object design approach proposed by philosopher Anne-Françoise Schmid. This method recognizes that some modern phenomena require a multidisciplinary effort as they cannot be fully understood from a single perspective. The study systematically reviews literature from various fields, such as health humanities, medical anthropology, embodied cognition, and contemporary art, from 2017 to 2023. This timeframe coincides with the latest advancements in chronic pain research and treatments.
Results: Once the multidisciplinary new conception is built, two facts appear: The CPP is unique to everyone. And combining different disciplines and displacing the biomedical gaze from the center gives rise to a new notion that might end up helping CPP bearers.
Conclusions: Further multidisciplinary research is imperative in the development of customized pain management.