Pain-Related Suffering Beyond Pain Scores: A Better Definition for Real Life
The year 2025 marks a formal separation of "Pain" and "Suffering." While pain remains a simple sensory and emotional signal, advanced clinical models, such as the Noe-Steinmüller framework, now define pain-related suffering as a profound "threat to an individual’s integrity as a self." This critical shift in perspective moves the focus away from mere signal intensity and toward the degradation of identity, social connections, and existential well-being, providing a clear, actionable language for addressing what is often termed "invisible" disability.