How can we know about the level of pain?
As a struggling French learner, getting a part-time job in Montreal is not an easy task. However, thanks to numerous experiments being conducted at McGill, I’m able to earn a few extra bucks on the side by being a participant in these studies, and receiving compensation for my time. During the reading break, I went to participate in a cold water immersion research.
I decided to participate in this particular study because it paid me 5 dollars more than the others. I thought to myself, “I just have to put my arm inside cold water. It won’t hurt…right?” Unfortunately, NO. It was INSANELY COLD! I was instructed to lower my forearm into a tank of water of only 2⁰C until a computer system that was recording the change of my heartbeat allowed me to withdraw my arm. I was very nervous at the moment since I was not given the control to withdraw my arm whenever I wanted. I also wondered if I would get a heart attack from soaking my arm for too long.
The system asked me to rate my pain level on a scale of 0–10 — 0 indicating no pain and 10 for extremely painful. Initially, it was not too bad, but it did not take long before it became extremely cold and painful. I rated three times with scores of 8, 9 and 9 within a minute. Facing negative temperature every day in Montreal, 2⁰C of water did not seem like a big deal. However, after this experience, I changed my mind.
Pain tolerance varies among individuals. Our genes and traits affect our pain sensitivity. However, the variation in our response to pain is more due to the fact that there is no absolute test to measure pain levels or the amount of pain that one experiences. We can only rely on self-reports to get some sort of idea of what an individual is feeling. Since the self-report measure generates subjective responses, it is reported that under the same stimulation, some people may be better at withstanding the pain, while some people with a lower threshold may feel greater pain.
The self-report measure always contains error due to individual differences. To counter this, researchers try to collect samples at random, or be specific in ethnicity and traits in certain genetics-related research. However, the risk of having an unreliable result still exists. From the cold water experiment, I rated 8, 9 and 9 for the level of pain I felt because it was painful enough to temporarily “distort” my face. Thinking back, perhaps I overrated the pain because I was nervous, or due to the reason that I have not experienced any other very painful events.
Pain allows us to be aware of external danger, or diseases happening inside the body. However, the sensation is very unpleasant when the pain is too strong. There are cases where patients who suffered from hyperalgesia or neuropathic pain continue to feel pain even after the body recovered. Pain can go through various neural pathways so that we can never escape from it. Taking a pain killer may help control the pain, but there may be a chance that pain is controlling us instead.
