An Embodied Approach to Symptom Perception

The IASP defines pain as "an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage" to better articulate the biopsychosocial dimensions of this phenomenon. While our understanding of pain has greatly evolved over the past decades, there are still fundamental questions that need to be addressed, including its psychological components.

Once such psychological component that has been discussed since the 17th century is the concept of embodiment - or the interplay between body and mind in behavior. Embodiment provides the body something to "incarnate," i.e., emotions/feelings can be direct perceptions of one's body state. In this webinar, we explored this concept of embodiment and its relation to how we perceive body awareness and pain.

Participants include:
Christopher Eccleston, PhD
Luana Colloca, MD, PhD