The Right To Pain Relief And Other Deep Roots Of The Opioid Epidemic

Pain has always been a problem for Western Society, but not the same kind of problem. Until about 1500, pain was primarily understood as a religious problem. Pain and suffering challenged the truth of religious belief and the legitimacy of the Church: How could a just, merciful, and all-powerful God allow so much pain and suffering in the world? As our society became more secular over the next 300 years, pain came to be understood primarily as a social problem. This modernizing society aimed to create the best environment for human flourishing: How might human society be designed and regulated to reduce the pain and suffering of everyone to the minimum possible? At least since 1900, we have separated pain as a medical problem from the remainder of human suffering. We have aimed to reduce this problem to a minimum through medical treatment. This quest has led us to our opioid epidemic. To fully comprehend the limitations of this medical interpretation, we must appreciate how the medical explanation of pain grew out of earlier religious and social interpretations of pain--

• | Author: Mark Sullivan, Jane Ballantyne
• | Publisher: Oxford University Press
• | Publication Date: Jan 24, 2023
• | Number of Pages: 304 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Paperback
• | ISBN-10: 0197615724
• | ISBN-13: 9780197615720