Pain Awareness Month

Pain isn't just tissue pathology - it's personal, social, and systemic. By looking at the whole person and the whole picture, we can move from managing pain to truly understanding and supporting those who live with it.

Seeing the Whole to Heal the Hurt

Ever wondered why some pain just won't go away? I've spent my career exploring that very question - why pain gets 'stuck'. It's led me to develop what I call an Integral Vision of chronic pain. This isn't just about sore muscles or damaged tissues. Pain, especially when it lingers, is a deeply personal experience - felt in the body, yes, but shaped by our minds, relationships, and even the systems we live in.

Inspired by American philosopher Ken Wilber's model of human consciousness, this vision looks at pain through four lenses: subjective, objective, individual, and collective. It’s a way of seeing pain not just as a medical issue, but as a human one - emotional, cultural, social, environmental and spiritual.

Chronic pain is a hidden global pandemic, and sustained by previous psychological trauma, mismatched environments, and even the language we use to describe it. To truly support people living with pain, I advocate to move beyond pills and procedures. The Integral Vision is to see the whole person, whole health, and whole context - not treating pain as a disease, but understanding it as part of growing and living well. That's the shift we need.