The complexity of persistent pain - a patient’s perspective

Abstract

In this chapter, Christine Price gives a personal account of how a deeper philosophical understanding of causal complexity had a direct effect on her ability to understand and manage her experiences of chronic pain. Price explains that learning about the dispositionalist understanding of causation and causal singularism, as presented in Part I, re-directed her efforts from getting information about chronic pain in general to becoming more knowledgeable about her own pain. The first part of this book presented the vector model as a way to qualitatively represent a single causal event. This is done by modelling the multiple dispositions at work and their strength of tendency toward, or away from, the manifestation of a certain effect. Here Price translates the vector model into her own method for understanding and managing her own dispositions in regard to her pain. In this way she provides a clear and personal example of how seeing causes as complex and interactive can, perhaps paradoxically, give patients more agency and control over their own care. Price’s account shows us that reflections on one’s own dispositions and how they contribute to health and illness can be a long-term effect of a positive clinical encounter.