Emotional Pain VS Physical Pain; Which is worse?

Babyblue said:
I agree.

When a person is in so much physical pain it can cause a person to be disabled temporary or permanently.

Then it can lead to depression. Due to the person can not do or enjoy the things they used to.

I injured my back a few years back. That was the worst pain I have ever experienced. I could not walk or move due to the pain was severe. Talking about hitting a nerve. I often suffer from back pain but never to that extent.
I was bed ridden for two weeks and I cried a lot. Not because of the pain. But due to I could not get up and do the things I wanted to do and the feeling of being helpless overcame me. I got really depressed.
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That reminds me: my mother had open heart surgery recently. As expected, the pain was EXCRUCIATING! However, the nurse told me to watch for post-op depression, which often times does lead to suicide. Therefore, extreme physical pain does lead to emotional pain, sometimes to the point of suicide.
 
Jiro said:
Emotional Pain is the worst - hard to recover or in most cases... unrecoverable. Physical pain is easily healed.
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agree.. but you mean easier.

not long ago I just lost my baby twin - I'm feeling physically better but emotions are still kinda of fresh.

I've always believed emotions are worse, always is. because physical pain may and/or do add up emotional pains, but emotional doesn't add physical pain until in a long run.

therefore, physical is less, has less sufferings if you know what I mean.
 
jillio said:
Agreed, Jolie. It is very difficult to separate the two issues. Emotional pain can cause physical pain, and physical pain can cause emotional pain. There are widereaching consequences to both. When treating pain of any type, we need to look not just at the source of the pain, but how it affects the individual on all levels and in all areas of their life.
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Indeed, It is difficult to separate these two.

I also think about how the severity of the issue that can be affected which is also involved. Not that the core of the source is one thing but it also has to be looked at on how one can really process it inside and out.
 
freckles said:
agree.. but you mean easier.

not long ago I just lost my baby twin - I'm feeling physically better but emotions are still kinda of fresh.

I've always believed emotions are worse, always is. because physical pain may and/or do add up emotional pains, but emotional doesn't add physical pain until in a long run.

therefore, physical is less, has less sufferings if you know what I mean.
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off-topic...

i'm sorry you lost one of your twins, freckles. :hug:
 
Babyblue said:
I agree.

When a person is in so much physical pain it can cause a person to be disabled temporary or permanently.

Then it can lead to depression. Due to the person can not do or enjoy the things they used to.

I injured my back a few years back. That was the worst pain I have ever experienced. I could not walk or move due to the pain was severe. Talking about hitting a nerve. I often suffer from back pain but never to that extent.
I was bed ridden for two weeks and I cried a lot. Not because of the pain. But due to I could not get up and do the things I wanted to do and the feeling of being helpless overcame me. I got really depressed.
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I understand what you are saying. The onset of physical pain that severe brings on lifestyle changes that create emotional circumstances and reactions. Even if medication can control the actual physical pain to a manageable level, the person is often left with limitations they did not have prior. That means a revision of self image. That can be a very difficult process. The emotional implications in turn reduce the tolerance one has for the physical pain. If one feels that they are in danger of loosing even a part of their independence, it can be traumatizing.
 
Jolie77 said:
Indeed, It is difficult to separate these two.

I also think about how the severity of the issue that can be affected which is also involved. Not that the core of the source is one thing but it also has to be looked at on how one can really process it inside and out.
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It is encouraging that many pain specialists are beginning to approach physical pain from a more holistic perspective, and treat it as something that affects the whole person rather than just a specific body part.
 
jillio said:
It is encouraging that many pain specialists are beginning to approach physical pain from a more holistic perspective, and treat it as something that affects the whole person rather than just a specific body part.
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this is true. i know someone online who sees a doctor that specializes in easing the pain of dying patients for her treatment-resistant depression. she says this doctor treats her depression from the perspective of a whole entity (mind, body and spirit) instead of something that is regarded as being strictly psychological in nature.
 
This is a good question!! :dunno2: I am a pretty easy going person, for the most part I can forgive easily for certain things that aren't extream. I deal with emotional pain very well. So I would almost rather have emotional pain than physical. I guess it all depends on the person and what they are going through at the time.
 
jillio said:
It is encouraging that many pain specialists are beginning to approach physical pain from a more holistic perspective, and treat it as something that affects the whole person rather than just a specific body part.
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This is a start and it is good that they are approaching it with an holistic perspective because, if they weren't to approach it with an holistic perspective; Chances are, they would not be able to get the bigger picture of what causes the pain.
 
Ive had both. From what I have experienced, I would much rather deal with physical pain as it does eventually heal, but the memory of it does serve as a reminder of how painful it was physically. For example when I recall the time I had a pinched nerve in my back that made even walking difficult, I get a false sensation in that same area of my back, much the same way you can recall getting a spanking as a child.

As far as emotional pain, that is a unique kind of pain that can linger and is more difficult to treat. Some people are able to function on a normal level with their emotional pain, some are even able to somehow move past it and into the future. Others are simply put into a weaker state of mind and find themselves a slave to their own thoughts and emotions which is not fun.

Emotional pain can have an affect on one's personality, their life - all aspects of it - from work, to love, to just being able to interact with people in general.

For example, to most people it seems that I have moved on from the pain of a bad marriage, but truth is the experiences of that bad marriage has made me cautious in all of my relationships like a part of me feels that I had done wrong when the logical part of me tells me I didn't. After a string of failed relationships with men since my marriage Ive decided that maybe men isn't my thing and I'd like to try something else to see if it works out better in the end. All because of the scars of my teenage years to a bad marriage to bad relationships and so forth.
 


Good thread here...

I would say that both emotional pain and physical pain but emotional pain is the one that takes time to heal.
 
Dixie said:
Ive had both. From what I have experienced, I would much rather deal with physical pain as it does eventually heal, but the memory of it does serve as a reminder of how painful it was physically. For example when I recall the time I had a pinched nerve in my back that made even walking difficult, I get a false sensation in that same area of my back, much the same way you can recall getting a spanking as a child.

As far as emotional pain, that is a unique kind of pain that can linger and is more difficult to treat. Some people are able to function on a normal level with their emotional pain, some are even able to somehow move past it and into the future. Others are simply put into a weaker state of mind and find themselves a slave to their own thoughts and emotions which is not fun.

Emotional pain can have an affect on one's personality, their life - all aspects of it - from work, to love, to just being able to interact with people in general.

For example, to most people it seems that I have moved on from the pain of a bad marriage, but truth is the experiences of that bad marriage has made me cautious in all of my relationships like a part of me feels that I had done wrong when the logical part of me tells me I didn't. After a string of failed relationships with men since my marriage Ive decided that maybe men isn't my thing and I'd like to try something else to see if it works out better in the end. All because of the scars of my teenage years to a bad marriage to bad relationships and so forth.
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emotional pain can also be the result of a chemical imbalance that is completely beyond a person's control.
 
Hear Again said:
emotional pain can also be the result of a chemical imbalance that is completely beyond a person's control.
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Agreed there, but no matter the cause whether it is an outside cause that was triggered by some truamatic event or a chemical inbalance within the brain that causes it, some are better able to cope than others. I have a feeling this is starting to turn into a nature vs. nurture discussion, but carry on anyway, this is getting interesting.
 
Dixie said:
Agreed there, but no matter the cause whether it is an outside cause that was triggered by some truamatic event or a chemical inbalance within the brain that causes it, some are better able to cope than others. I have a feeling this is starting to turn into a nature vs. nurture discussion, but carry on anyway, this is getting interesting.
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this is true, but i think in some cases, a chemical imbalance makes it extremely difficult for people to adjust well to emotional pain.

for example, i have bipolar I which happens to be the most severe form of bipolar. despite the fact that i take meds and do everything i can to keep my mood swings under control, i still rapid cycle and experience manic and depressive episodes. i can't will either of them away no matter how hard i try. it's all a part of the illness and having a chemical imbalance.
 
I say emotional pain is worse than physical pain because it is very difficult to be removed or forgotten. I still have had some emotional pains and I have managed to keep most of them behind me. Whenever I see something or someone which instantly reminds me of the past, it invokes emotional pains on me.
 
Emotional pain is worse. Definately.

In fact, when I was younger I used to find self harm actually helped numb emotional pain so I used to poor boiling water over myself. It was sort of like a release (for a bit).
 
David said:
This could lead to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which is an extremely serious emotional condition. I have been diagnosed (by two different psychiatrists) with that because of the example you used above - not exact, but similar. PTSD can easily lead a person to suicide; I have been extremely close four times.... once very recently.

On a different note, I once had major surgery (exploratory) six years ago. When I woke up, I noticed the morphine was not working. I am naturally immune to morphine as well as my father and my daughter. I was in such pain that I was slipping in and out of consciousness for two days.

Despite this pain from the surgery, I say emotional pain in much, much worse.
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I've been there. When I first moved here, When Jilli barked in the night I was apsolutely terrified. I thought my flatmates might come back and attack me. It was a very scary experience. Also I've had no relationships since then. When anything seems likely to happen with someone I keep running away from them.
 
I think sometimes people can get used to pain of all sorts.

My mum has had mental health issues for as long as I've known her and probably before that. Then she got cancer. She was in a lot of pain towards the end. My dad comented that she adapted remarkably well to the physical pain. I wonder if after being used to emotional pain for so long, having the physical pain from the cancer wasn't quite so bad?

Emotional pain can also cause a person to feel physical pain for psycomatic reasons.
 
depression can definitely cause physical aches and pains such as headaches, stomachaches, sore muscles (especially if one does not take walks on a regular basis) and joint pain.
 
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