Pain And You

OK, so I was sitting in one of my Psychology classes today, and the professor said something that I had never considered before - and it really stuck to me. We were discussing the Placebo Effect and he said, "What people don't really consider when talking about pain is the simple face that pain is contextual." In layman's terms, a person only feels as much pain as the situation dictates and how that person perceives it all.

Take these two stories to illustrate the point - A surgeon from Boston in the 40's worked in a downtown hospital, and he saw many gunshot victims and other severely painful injuries and one thing was consistent - they all felt immense pain and were constantly asking for more morphine. They felt a lot of pain.

Well, the same surgeon went into the armed forces during WWII and worked in one of the medical pavilions where* he saw even more injuries - mainly victims of gunshots or shrapnel - very painful injuries. His platoon had been cut off from resources and reinforcements for some time and they were seriously low on morphine, which was the primary means of killing pain (as it is today). Well, to determine who needed the morphine the most, the surgeon went around and asked each patient "As you lay there, do you feel any pain?" And, 3/4 of them said..."No."

And, it occurred to him, these men are in infinitely more pain than the people he saw in the hospital, there must be something more there causing the soldiers to at least mentally feel more at ease. He realized that it's because pain is contextual.

Consider the situations - the soldier gets shot in the back, immediately, his mind is racing with information, tons of shit. He may not consciously realize it, but his mind is creating an entire index of possibilities as to outcomes from the bullet wound. As the bullet tears his flesh, he's thinking first, "I'm alive, this is good. I'm going to get out of here and there will be a period of rehabilitation. I'm going to be sent home and there will be a parade waiting for me. I'm going to get medals. I'm going to be a hero."

Now, consider the citizen gunshot victim. He's a teller at a bank, a thug storms into the bank and demands all of the cash. He hands it over, but once the thief hears the alarm he unloads his rifle into the teller. As soon as the bullet rips the teller's flesh he's thinking to himself, "I'm alive. This is good. Oh my god, I've been shot. I have a wife and kids at home I have to take care of. The medical bills are going to be massive. How will my family survive without me there for them? This is going to be the most trying time of my life."

Now, there's a difference there. The soldier's pain is alleviated greatly by the fact that he's telling himself that he's going to be fine and everything will be for the better after it's all figured out. The teller's pain is intensified because he is telling himself that this is the worst thing to happen to him in his life.

It's all in the context of your pain. Now, the question is - how does this apply to Homegrown? Well, it's pretty simple, and I think, obvious. The most common comments any group's videos get on Youtube or Myspace are always "Oh Meye Gawsh! datz so payneful yur an iddeeit!" Well, the answer is within the context of the stunt.

Say you're a roofer, working on putting new shingles on a roof, you realize that you need to get the hammer from the other side of the roof. You walk over and bend down to pick up the hammer, and your ass falls off that roof - your arm's broken and you're in immense pain. Immediately, racing through your head is, "Holy shit, this sucks. I won't be able to work for weeks, I need the money from this job - my family needs the money. I'm never going to be able to work the same way again. My life has changed forever." You're going to feel a lot more pain.

Now, you're a teenager. You're you. You do Homegrown stunts with your recreational time. It's something you do - it's a major part of what you define yourself by. You're on top of a roof - same roof that the roofer was working on yesterday - your friends are all on the ground below you and there are 3 cameras all around. Your heart's thumping, your mind's racing. You're going to jump from 15 feet up to the ground below through a flaming light tube covered table (you're uncreative, by the way). Your friends are yelling and encouraging you to go and you finally get your shit together and leap. You hit the table awkwardly and you know it didn't go well. Your arm is broken. As soon as you make contact, your mind is running the same sort of scenario as the roofer's only this time - it's different. You're thinking to yourself, "Damn, that didn't go like I wanted it to. I'm alive, this is good. I bet this is going to look fucking awesome. My friends are here right now to pull me off the table and douse me out. They're going to love this on the forums. This was fucking epic." The pain you're feeling is just as intense as the roofer's, maybe even more so, but, it doesn't have nearly as much of an effect on you. It's all in the context of it.

So, it's not a matter of us just being stupid and hurting ourselves. Deep down in our minds, we're formulating our own way of dealing with the pain, it enables us to keep going - to go bigger. Because no matter how much it seems like it should hurt - it just doesn't. It's all psychological and the better we understand this, the better we can understand how to overcome ourselves and do better stunts.

In conclusion, realize that you have in fact done significant damage to your body. That is important. But, also realize that the way it affects you, and the way you react to it physically, all has to do with how your mind processes it and how you look at it. If you're walking down the sidewalk and fall straight on your face by yourself, it hurts a lot more than if you fall on your face around your friends and a camera.

That's cool. I was thinking something like this the other day also. I take Psychology as well.

not sure why but this line cracked me up

only problem is after the inital tought that prevent pain the pain still leaks through
at least im looking at this thru what iv seen with my friends

in our light tube video
my friend was all pumped up, didnt want to stop the blood, infact he wanted me to get a better shot
after the thoughts of his video bliss he started to panic

Interesting, it's totally true. I know when I'm racing bikes and I crash, I instantlly worry that I've ruined my race, I won't be able to ride for months ect ect. Within 5 seconds I'm in the worst state of mind.. not always, sometimes you just jump straight back on but it varies.
And yeh if I'm doing stunts I usaully smash myself and get up laughing.. even if bones are broken it's usually a cause for laughter. but I've crashed my bike at races and had only scuffs and bruises and been barely able to get up.
Granted which is why I took to medidation to block out all that crap.. and boy does it work.
Off pain, but thinking about illness. I race road bikes (like the tour de france) and I was at a huge aussie tour with some international teams and shit, real serious race for me. I was very, very sick. I had a horrible flu, it was nearly at freezing point and it was constant rain and sleet. Like the worst conditions to race in.. I was so sick I was having trouble breathing just sitting at a couch.
Prior to the race I meditated for a good 30 minutes, right up until start time. By the time I got to the start line I felt as if I was in 100% health, I was strong, confident and phyced.
Granted it only last me about 15 minutes before my body gave up, but the fact I could change my mental position from not even wanting to be out of bed to feeling like I could actually take on this race was incredible.
So yeh, phycology is an amazing thing.

Pain is totally mental.

Its the body's warning sign of bodily damage, its part of our survival instinct.
The body creates an unpleasant feeling when part of it is being damaged.

I do totally agree with your thoughts, since pain is just mental.

With young children, if they fall or get slightly hurt, they don't cry immediatly, it all depends on how the people around them act.

My parents would always overreact when my little brother hit his head or fell down, they would rush to him screaming oh my god, are you ok?! and the child freaks and begins crying. Now when my brother had the same fall, and I was just there, I would laugh and say ohhh your so silly, and the kid would start laughing.

A child's mind isnt developed enough to think of those future consequences of the injury, so they base their reaction on the reactions of those around them.

WEAR? It's not even a word. You uneducated oaf.

Man that text is almost long enough to get you a degree in psychology.

Anyways I read it, I rarely read posts that are that long by the way, and I enjoyed it. You hit the point there and it was well written. I've never really given that a lot of thought myself but it was kind of obvious to me still. Seems to me that becoming a teacher would really suit you, so you're definitely in the right school.

Wear is a word, you n00bcake.

Back on topic, our minds are complex and extraordinary to say the least. I can understand what you're getting at, in fact, I can totally relate to everything you've said, although not really in a 'pain' situation, but I believe it's still in the context of your post. I used to get anxiety and panic attacks a year or two ago and was prescribed all sorts of drugs by doctors to get rid of them, to make a long story short, I ended up with a slight addiction to benzo's. So rather than going down the addiction road again I decided, basically, to change the way I thought during the attacks. It only took a few weeks for them to become almost non-existant by doing nothing but thinking differently.

It's slightly cliché, but you can't underestimate the power of positive thought.

That's a great point too! I've seen this happen countless times. Take doctors, for instance. Their job is 90% theater and 10% medicine. Think about it, most people start to feel better as soon as they merely see their doctor walk up with his white coat on. The doctor's job whenever he's around the patient involves mainly convincing the patient that he'll be alright. Their demeanor and everything they say is intended to set the patient's mind at ease and make them will themselves to health. And it works. If every time you met with a doctor, they were negative and did nothing to help your mind convince your body it's OK, you'd never get healthy. It's the same idea as Leroy's, the child doesn't know any better and trusts everything an older person tells them. Adults are the same exact way, we can be fooled into feeling better just based on what a doctor says.

Dark Rider - That's a good example of that whole "Mind over matter" approach to health. If you will it, it usually happens for you. You can't really will away cancer or the AIDS, but you can convince your body that it's just fine and you usually will at least feel like you are.

Liam - I fixed it. Thanks for finding my mistake.

Flynn - That video was fucked, I don't know if I'd have been able to convince myself that I wasn't hurt there. A lot of times, just looking at an injury that looks really fucking bad can make it feel worse. Take Leroy's kid example again. A lot of times, kids won't cry if they just fall down. But, if they fall down and they see a little bit of blood, they're freaking out and crying because they're scared. Same thing with some stunts, if it looks worse than it feels, that's a good thing, it's important not to let it make you feel worse.

Ben <3x10

I was just trying to be ironic by nitpicking and ignoring your effort and insight Image file not present in the recovered backup

It's a solid read. I start Psychology next week as well, as it happens.

It's sort of all a bit obvious though.

Yuh, let's go back to another thread about something better.

/closed

Democracy works.

yeah 100% agree

but sometime, the *PAIN FACTOR* is out of control

that was a (no) shame-full thing you did, dropping your name and shit like that..your a freak (inc.)

I think it only works if you drop your name
how else are you gona ris it all and get famous....

that sounded better in my head

haha not bad, but shoulda dropped ria since we dont film anymore, its basiclly just myself...slavinproject

accually makes sense, like the post.

How do you get your nose so brown? Haha you suck.

how do you get so much suction with your head??

Pipe down.

No seriously, when you can come up with an insult of your own get back to me. Until then, wallow in your lack of creativity and continue brown nosing.

lol so wait...its brown nosing because ive seen a bunch of freak inc and agree with the fact that its going to be a top dvd?? or is it your just jealous more people like fms over you cuz your a dick, and thinks only gomp should be aloud to film?? anywho your a douche, maybe try not acting like the tough guy all the time and people might actually like you

You make no sense, either way add me cause we're clogging this thread haha.

I can't help acting like the tough guy, genetics and nature made me that way, if you don't like me trust me I'll live haha the people that don't like me on here don't bother me in the least haha, I can't believe you'd try to use that as a shot at me; my ego is too huge to hurt.

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Gomp is such a joke.

Leave my thread alone, putas. For once we were having semi-intelligent conversation and you spam it with bullshit.

That pluger pic is fucking class man, don't hate on that.

Hate on he who's head is plungered.

Or, just grow the fuck up and don't "hate on" anyone.

Never.