Pain and Pleasure

[Rie]

... yes I know there's a song about the fine line between pleasure and pain but why do we retain the emotional imprint of pain so much longer than the feeling of pleasure?:dunno:

[neilstone40]

I think pain imprints deeper because it's designed to keep us safe from harm.

I'm sure I've heard the only fears we naturally have are loud noises and falling - everything else we have to learn for ourselves or be taught (I could be talking utter nonsense here so happy to be corrected on it).

Maybe pain, by it's very nature, engraves itself on our memory and psyche more effectively than the fuzzy warmth of happier experiences and leaps to the front of our mind a little quicker.

Some experiences though combine a big bit of both, I'd cite childbirth as one possible example although my qualification is as an interested observer rather than a full participant. :D

[Politesse]

Because we tend and nurture our pains tenderly as a garden, and let our pleasures float away.

[neilstone40]

Because we tend and nurture our pains tenderly as a garden, and let our pleasures float away.

Yeah, what Poli said! Beautifully expressed as ever.

Damn you and your elegant eloquence Poli...:D

[cnorman18]

What kind of pain are we talking about? I think the memory of physical pain fades like the memory of pleasure; other kinds of pain, not so much.

Example: I bet you can't remember the specifics of your minor childhood physical hurts, even pretty bad ones; you just remember that it happened. Fell down on my bike when I was about thirteen, laid the back of my hand and half my right leg open, took months to heal. I remember that, vaguely.

But I'll bet you can remember something hurtful someone SAID to you when you were ten or twelve like it happened yesterday. I know I do.

Does this factor in at all?

[davidpbrown]

...why do we retain the emotional imprint of pain so much longer than the feeling of pleasure?:dunno:

Maybe we naturally focus on problems more than what are not problems :dunno:

Perhaps the pain acknowledges the absence of something and then by association everytime it's an issue, the pain that absence has caused is recalled.

If you have something, then you don't need to put energy into considering how it could be different. If you lack something, then perhaps you do put energy into it and the pain is then the stress of that. :dunno:

[Roo St. Gallus]

I've been somewhat curious about when the two are synonymous...like during a massage when one's muscles are sore. Pressing on them and manipulating them when they are sore just makes them 'hurt' more, but it is very pleasurable (to me, at least). I also tend to be fascinated with the dull, buffered pain of healing bruises, and I repeatly press and poke them to elict this dull pain, because I find it vaguely pleasurable.

So, what's up with that? Do I have mild masochistic tendencies, or something?

[Politesse]

Nothing wrong with masochistic tendencies, safely and reasonably expressed.

[neilstone40]

So, what's up with that? Do I have mild masochistic tendencies, or something?

Roo, you deviant you!:D

I can associate with that though. I've witnessed a similar enjoyable reaction to physical pain in martial arts classes. In Aikido in particular, the uke (person 'receiving' a technique) would get a perceptible 'rush' out of a crisp and well executed technique.

Seeing someone hit the floor like a ton of bricks then coming up grinning like a Cheshire Cat was curious but pleasing. Hearing someone fly past your ear screaming "nice one mate" just before they crumpled into a wall was fun too.

I'm sure some of it was a combination of adrenaline and endorphins but there was seldom any machismo involved. If anything, I enjoyed being thrown or receiving a technique more than executing one myself.

[cnorman18]

Heard the one about the masochist and the sadist?

The masochist kept saying, "Beat me, hurt me, make me cry!"

And the sadist kept saying, "No! No!"

[sohy]

If you are talking about physical pain, there is recent evidence that under treated physical pain can cause changes in the nervous system which makes the pain remain long after the physical reason for the pain is gone. I'm probably not explaining this in the best way, and I don't have time to find some sources that might help me out right now. Complex regional pain disorder is probably the best example of this. The wound or injury is long healed over but the pain remains constant.

I wonder if emotional pain is similar. That might explain diseases such as PTSD. I also wonder if those who suffer from severe nerve pain might also have a more difficult time resolving emotional pain. Just wondering.

Oh and Poli, I don't allow my pleasures to simply float away. I cherish them and frequently relive them, if only in my mind.

[Rie]

Neilstone? It may be just me but just before 'coming' I feel an incredible peircing pain that is also pleasure. Strange. I cherish this moment because like all pleausure it is ephemeral.:evil:

[neilstone40]

:blush: