MEDICAL AND SOCIAL ASPECTS OF PAIN PERCEPTION

Abstract

Aim. The aim of the research is to study epistemological, philological, medical, social, economic aspects for pain in order to improve the awareness at the medical environment and develop effective forms, means and methods of medical care to patients with pain syndromes. Materials and methods. Bibliosemantic, comparative analysis, systems analysis. Results. Pain is dualistic both in its origin and in its mechanisms. Pain is both a physical sensation and an emotional response to it including cognitive and social components. In essence, chronic and recurrent pain is a separate health care issue, an independent disease. Convincing data were obtained on the presence of functional, structural and chemical changes in the brain due to chronic pain. The ability to modulate a response to pain is crucial for adaptation and takes place through cortical, stem, and cerebrospinal level. The response to pain is modulated by three mechanisms: gate control, descending modulation system, neuromodulators. Discussion. Chronic pain is one of the most burdensome state and one of the most common chronic diseases as the frequency of such disorders reaches the epidemic level, and the economic loss for health care provided for patients with chronic pain syndrome in terms of the total costs of society outweigh the costs of cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes. Chronic pain is accompanied by anxiety, depression, fatigue, sleep disturbance, functional disability and reduced quality of life. This is an urgent issue especially nowadays during the warfare in Ukraine. The frequency and severity of the course of chronic pain and psychosomatic syndrome will certainly increase not only during the war but also in the post-war years, possibly in even more severe forms. Only specialized multimodal medical care for patients with chronic pain would benefit in terms of treatment outcomes, economic efficiency and social consequences. Conclusions. In order to significantly improve the provision of medical care to patients with chronic pain, it is necessary to raise awareness of the medical environment and a multidisciplinary approach to such patients, as well as significant organisational changes, including student training and further professional development, improvement of organisational forms of medical care and the readiness of doctors to introduce innovative methods and techniques for providing medical care to patients with pain syndromes.