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The need to prevent danger and
injury to the body has obvious survival advantage. The development of simple heuristics or
decision-rules (see New Scientist, 2202, 4th Sept. 1999, p. 32-35) enables an individual
to save time. The Pain=injury heuristic will be valuable to survival, even though it will
sometimes be incorrect. Danger control is the term given to the idea that the person
tries to minimize damage to his or her self. This may be physical damage or other kinds of
damage. Emotional-focussed coping can be though of as a form of damage control, as can
avoidance behaviour in dangerous situations. Fear has obvious advantages in keeping people
away from situations in which they may be harmed. It isn’t surprising then that pain and
fear are closely linked. Most of us fear pain and most patients with cancer report that,
while they are not afraid of dying, they are afraid of suffering pain. |
