Abraham Olivier

Being in Pain Abraham Olivier 1st edition

What does it mean to be in pain? How should we deal with pain? The major trend today is an attempt to offer a physiological explanation and treatment of pain. This book raises the question as to how we can understand and treat pain on a physiological basis without underrating or denying its psychological dimensions. As an answer to this question, the author proposes a non-reductive physiological definition and subsequently treatment of pain that account equally for physical and psychological factors. Drawing on a wide array of sources, the author defines pain as a mode of bodily perception and then explores the therapeutic consequences of this definition. The primary focus is philosophical, but it is an accessibly written academic book, of relevance to a wide readership.