Friday, September 14, 2012

Friday Loose Bloggers Consortium: Pain

In thinking about this topic, I want to post the question to you: which pain is worse;
mental or physical? Personally, I think that all in all, mental pain is worse. There are pain killers available from the doctor for physical pain. But the most the doctors can give us for mental anguish is psychiatric medicine that doesn't eliminate the pain, it only numbs it.

Granted, I've never had to experience tortuous pain, so maybe I'm not the best expert on the subject of experiencing pain. I have had some painful experiences in my life: --I've been through natural childbirth.
--I've had major abdominal surgery, and had to suffer through the recovery.
--One really strong memory of pain for me was a hike I took when I was a teenager, when I carried a full back pack that had no frame. I'm not sure how much the pack weighed, but I was a skinny, wimpy girl, and that pack weighed so heavily on my neck that I was in terrible pain for the entire hike. Maybe that's why I don't like hiking today.
--I suffered for about 2 weeks with a kidney stone.

All in all, I feel lucky that I haven't had to experience more physical pain in my life.
But what about mental pain? I've had a few experiences with this, and I can say that not only is it horrible to experience, but it also effects you physically! Let yourself be tormented about something long enough, and see if you don't get a headache! It's very difficult to get away from your thoughts.
So what do you think? Is physical pain worse, or mental?

Check out what the other consortium members have to say about pain: (Note, not all of these members are currently active in the consortium, but I'm too lazy to set up a new list. :P)
Rummuser, Anu, Ashkok, Gaelikka, Grannymar, , Padmum, Magpie11, andAkanksha,Will Knot, Maria the Silver Fox, Anki, Nema Noor Paul Plain Joe, and Rohit
and The Old Fossil, and our newest member MAXI!

6 comments:

Ursula said...

Delirious, you can't compare physical and mental pain. To ask which one is worse is like comparing apples with bananas. As you say, you can throw pills (within limits) at physical pain. Mental pain is much more evasive, and difficult to pacify.

So, if I had the choice: Kick me in the shin but for heaven's sake don't mess with my brain.

U

Grannymar said...

Is physical pain worse, than mental pain?

It all depends on each individual person. Some have a higher pain threshold for physical pain.

If you are stuck indoors all troubles and pain grow to fill your space. When you go out you meet people with a heavier weight of pain and worry.

Rummuser said...

Hard to imagine you as a skinny wimpy girl!

I think that both are inevitable and one really cannot choose one over the other to have! I would rather not have either, but to reach that stage, I need to work harder on my spiritual path.

Amber said...

I'm not sure which is worse, but I think they are at least equal. Sometimes it makes me mad when people try to belittle mental pain just because physical pain is much easier to see.

Maxi said...

There has been boundless types of physical and mental pain in my life.

Either pain can be torturous; to deal with both at the same time is unbearable.

Blessings ~ Maxi

Anonymous said...

Like Ursula said - hard to compare.
I suppose if you judge them by the extreme reactions they provoke - physical pain, cut off the offending limb v. mental pain, suicide - then mental may be worse.
Of course physical pain can be so all-enveloping too, so perhaps I'm setting up a false comparison.