Lorimer just wrote this opening paragraph for a book chapter. Heidi said “Stick that up as a blog post”. Lorimer said “OK”. The rest is history……
Biological organisms are proficient at protecting themselves from threat. Seminal work more than a century ago clearly demonstrated that even unicellular organisms can propel themselves away from physical threat[1]. The sophistication with which organisms can protect themselves from threat increases in line with the sophistication of the organism. Mammals are a fine case in point, with a protective armory that includes monosynaptic motor responses, co-ordinated polysynaptic motor responses, sympathetic, endocrine, local and systemic immune responses. The most sophisticated response however, one that is particularly well developed (and certainly well studied) in humans, is a conscious experience that motivates the entire organism to take drastic protective action. This experience is called pain.
References
1. Jennings, H. (1906). Behavior of lower organisms., (Bloomington, : Indiana University Press).
See also
Jennings, H. (1908). THE INTERPRETATION OF THE BEHAVIOR OF THE LOWER ORGANISMS Science, 27 (696), 698-710 DOI: 10.1126/science.27.696.698
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A thing of beauty.
Reminds me of something my Grandad once said when an advert came on in the 1980′s for a sophisticated new car that warned you when your seatbelt wasn’t on and when the doors weren’t closed etc….
“The more complicated and fancy it is the more there is to go wrong with it”.
And he stuck with his battered Vauxhall Viva.
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Wonderfully formulated and beautifully illustrated! We need communicators and disseminators like you – luckily you’re also a therapist and a scientist…
Thanks for the inspiration of explaining complex things in a simple way that make patients feel safe and a bit more at ease with their condition. Props to you for trying to bridge science and therapy. It’s still a rather seldom discipline.
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That needs to be framed and hung on every clinician’s wall specifically the ones who deal with patients in pain. Great job! I say that as a patient and a writer.
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Kudos Lorimer. The outcome from those protective mechanisms, however, is not only pain. Depression can now be viewed as one of those protective mechanisms that can provide protection but also hell. This recent article in the NYTimes (particularly see the quote of Darwin in the article) demonstrates the potential protective origins of depression. It isn’t just randomness that Pain and Depression have many close interrelations.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/magazine/28depression-t.html
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Thanks all and great observation John. I agree – i wonder if all the big ones – stress, anxiety, depression, pain could be discussed in these terms. time for ‘explain depression’ perhaps…..
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