Posted by finelinebob on May 9, 2004, at 3:11:37
In reply to I wonder, what.....?, posted by 64bowtie on May 9, 2004, at 0:35:55
What's pain in the first place? Wherever the message starts, the confirmation is going to come from whatever part of your brain that controls pain. Stub your toe. Sit on a tack. Have a firecracker go off by your ear. Realize just how alone you are. Is one any more imagined than another?
I don't know -- maybe emotional pain doesn't trigger the same place in our brains as physical pain.
I do know that my emotional pain is quantifiable, because I know from experience how much physical pain I need to cause myself in order to distract me from my emotional pain. One of the core precepts of the hard sciences is that if you can measure it, it must exist.
I also know that pain is pain. There is nothing objective about it (even if it CAN be measured). Be happy because somewhere out there, there is someone whose life is worse than yours? Quantity doesn't validate or invalidate whatever pain you feel. Pain is.
I can remember "heartaches", but I can't say that most of my emotional pain has a place inside of me. Maybe that's why, oh, staying awake until my head spins and my eyes hurt can distract me from it. Maybe that's a good thing, maybe not.
What does it mean? You sit on a tack. Your skin sends a signal to your brain, and your brain figures out that something is seriously wrong! I guess emotional pain is the same. I'm not saying that everything's okay if you don't feel the pain (no pain, you're sane? Nah!), but the opposite sure is true. If you're feeling it, there is a valid reason for it.
Just because it starts in your head and ends in your head doesn't mean its imaginary.
flb
poster:finelinebob
thread:344965
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040503/msgs/344993.html