Pain is felt by everyone, yet understanding its nature is fragmented across myriad modes of thought. In this compact, yet thoroughly integrative account uniting medical science, psychology, and the humanities Ronald Schleifer offers a deep and complex understanding along with possible strategies of dealing with pain in its most overwhelming forms. A perfect addition to many courses in medicine, healthcare, counseling psychology, and social work.
New York Times bestselling author of The Prodigal Prophet Timothy Keller—whose books have sold millions of copies to both religious and secular readers—explores one of the most difficult questions we must answer in our lives: Why is there pain and suffering? Walking with God through Pain and Suffering is the definitive Christian book on why bad things happen and how we should respond to them. The question of why there is pain and suffering in the world has confounded every generation; yet there has not been a major book from a Christian perspective exploring why they exist for many years. The two classics in this area are When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Rabbi Harold S. Kushner, which was published more than thirty years ago, and C. S. Lewis’s The Problem of Pain, published more than seventy years ago. The great secular book on the subject, Elisabeth Ku¨bler-Ross’s On Death and Dying, was first published in 1969. It’s time for a new understanding and perspective, and who better to tackle this complex subject than Timothy Keller? As the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, Timothy Keller is known for the unique insights he shares, and his series of books has guided countless readers in their spiritual journeys. Walking with God through Pain and Suffering will bring a much-needed, fresh viewpoint on this important issue.
The world's foremost expert draws on the latest research to present an accessible look at the causes and consequences of pain, both mental and physical. Patrick Wall shows that pain is a matter of behavioral manifestation and differs among individuals, situations, and cultures. Wall provides a wealth of fascinating and sometimes disturbing historical detail, such as famous characters who derived pleasure from pain, the unexpected reactions of injured people, the role of endorphins, and the power of placebo. He covers cures of pain, ranging from drugs and surgery, through relaxation techniques and exercise, to acupuncture, electrical nerve stimulation, and herbalism.
The Difference Between Pain and Suffering is a complete handbook for hope and healing for pain relief without drugs. Written by medical intuitive healer Catherine Carrigan, this book outlines tips you can follow to restore your health naturally. Drug overdose is now the No. 1 cause of death for Americans under the age of 50. Learn how to feel good without opioids or over-the-counter medication. Your Physical Body: Learn how to heal pain through nutrition, yoga, posture exercise, restorative movement, juices and smoothies and food healing. Your Energy Body: Take advantage of the hidden secrets of your chakras, energy healing, Reiki, balancing your acupuncture meridians and breathing exercises. Your Emotional Body: Release the emotional stress behind your suffering, overcome your broken heart, understand the messages from your body and let go of the payoffs for chronic pain. Your Mental Body: Change your story to think like a rich and healthy person. Your Spiritual Body: Raise your vibration past pain and suffering and learn how to comfort others when all you have to give is love. This book includes an appendix with 41 therapeutic yoga exercises, charts and directions on how to balance your own acupuncture meridians and recipes for radiant health.
Suffering and Sentiment examines the cultural and personal experiences of chronic and acute pain sufferers in a richly described account of everyday beliefs, values, and practices on the island of Yap (Waqab), Federated States of Micronesia. C. Jason Throop provides a vivid sense of Yapese life as he explores the local systems of knowledge, morality, and practice that pertain to experiencing and expressing pain. In so doing, Throop investigates the ways in which sensory experiences like pain can be given meaningful coherence in the context of an individual’s culturally constituted existence. In addition to examining the extent to which local understandings of pain’s characteristics are personalized by individual sufferers, the book sheds important new light on how pain is implicated in the fashioning of particular Yapese understandings of ethical subjectivity and right action.
To move beyond pain and suffering does not necessarily mean to live without pain and suffering. It means learning to adapt to adversity so the most difficult parts of our lives are no longer the most significant parts of our lives. Life comes at us quickly and is like a series of doors. Sometimes we don't like the doors we have to go through, but we still have to walk through them. We all experience hardships in our lives so it is of great help to have tools in place for challenges we are experiencing in the moment to minimize despair, as well as unpredictable stressors such as pain, trauma, diseases and other illnesses, financial trouble, relationship issues, loss, fear, anxiety, and depression, to name just a few. This book provides practical concepts and strategies for how to cope and manage these and other situations to reduce the burden they bring, be it physical, emotional, or both. When we learn to live beyond our pain and suffering, our physical and/or emotional challenges do not become the dominant force in our lives.
When I experience pain, who or what is the me that suffers? When I relieve another's pain, who or what is the other that I restore to well-being? Increasingly, these questions seem answerable only through an understanding of narrative. Studies of pain narrative focus not simply on engrossing tales, but on complex and subtle processes rooted in the neurobiology of self-representation, emotion, and social interaction. These processes shape how individuals and cultures experience and report pain. Studies of narrative in its broadest sense not only deepen our understanding of pain and suffering, but also teach us about meaning, motivation, and discourse as represented in the biomedical, human, and social sciences. This book embodies the path-breaking multidisciplinary perspective that was created when leading contributors in neurobiology, integrative physiology, anthropology, psychology, sociology, and clinical research joined with clinicians, writers, and journalists from developed and developing countries. Together they have produced a unique volume that speaks to core issues integral to emerging pain research and humane health care in the 21st century.
Needless Suffering offers a sociological examination of a complex medical problem: chronic pain and the inability of doctors and other health professionals to understand and manage it in their patients. People in pain, writes Dr. David Nagel, are the poor of the medical world. Like the poor, they are stigmatized and left at the mercy of powerful social actors who tend to work in their own self-interest, frequently at the expense of those they propose to serve. This leaves those who suffer with little control over their own destinies and creates a dysfunctional status quo that harms instead of helps. Drawing on his own experience witnessing his mother's chronic pain and numerous clinical stories from over thirty years' expertise as a pain management specialist, Nagel looks first at patients, their families, and their doctors (usually not trained in pain management), and then broadens his canvas to elaborate a pain power structure that includes the entire healthcare community, insurers, lawyers, government regulators, employers, politicians, law enforcement agencies, and painkilling drugs. Concluding with concrete reforms to create more effective and compassionate pain care, this book is designed for pain patients and their families, healthcare providers, legislators and other public policymakers, judges, personal injury and other attorneys, insurers, government regulators, law enforcement personnel, and health care businesspeople.
Why is there suffering? When will it end? Where is God in it? Despite how common suffering is, we still struggle to understand it, and even more to bear through it. Between Pain and Grace gets to the heart of this struggle. Its honest and detailed portrait of life challenges our assumptions about pain, emotion, and God himself. Born from a popular college course on suffering, this book answers critical questions like: Is God personally involved in our pain and suffering? How should Christians handle emotions like grief and anger? What does the Bible say about issues like mental illness, sexual abuse, and family betrayal? Striking an elegant balance between being scholarly and pastoral, Between Pain and Grace is useful in the classroom, churches, and for personal reading. The authors draw from Scripture, personal experience, and even psychological research to offer a well-rounded and trustworthy take on suffering. Between Pain and Grace will give you confidence in God’s sovereignty, comfort in His presence, and wisdom for life this side of paradise. It will also make you more tender and better prepared to respond to the suffering of others. Read it today for a richer, more realistic relationship with God.
