Understanding Pain

 

From October 2006 until May 2007, The Hektoen Institute of Medicine partnered with the International Museum of Surgical Science (IMSS) to present the lecture series Understanding Pain. This medical humanities lecture series examined the human experience of pain from clinical, historical, ethical, and social perspectives. This multi-faceted approach challenged preconceived notions of how pain is typically managed and stimulated the public to think more critically about the complexity of pain.

Illustration of Descartes' theory of Pain
Illustration of Descartes’ theory of pain, in which a painful sensation travels along a specific “pain pathway” up the spinal cord to be perceived in the brain, c. 1664.
  • Introduction to Pain & Pain Management
    Thursday, October 26, 2006 at IMSS
    Silvio Glusman, MD, PhD, Associate Chairman, Department of Anesthesiology & Pain Management, and Director of the Pain Management Center, at John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, will address multidisciplinary concepts of pain, its mechanism, and how pain may be perceived differently in various cultures.

  • Treating Pain
    Tuesday, December 12, 2006 at Hektoen
    Maria L. Torres, MD, Chair, Division of Acute Pain Management Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Management, John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, will discuss the differences between acute and chronic pain states and some appropriate treatments that a pain management center can offer as interventions to each.

  • Alternative Approaches to Pain Care:  Art Therapy, Massage Therapy, & Acupuncture Panel Discussion
    Tuesday, January 30, 2007 at IMSS
    Mary Ann McDermott, RN, EdD, Professor Emeritus, Niehoff School of Nursing, Loyola University, Chicago; Ted Rubenstein, MFA, PsyD, Vice-President Expressive Arts Therapy and Clinical Director at the Institute for Therapy through the Arts, Chicago; Robert King,  Founder, Chicago School of Massage Therapy; David Bilstrom, MD, Acupuncturist and Medical Director, Complementary Medicine Center, Good Samaritan Health Hospital and Christ Hospital.
    Co-hosted by Nurses & the Humanities

  • Not All in My Head: Reflections on Women’s Treatment with Pain Care
    Tuesday, February 20, 2007 at IMSS
    Paula Kamen, author, journalist, and visiting scholar, Gender Studies, Northwestern University, will give a humorous yet serious critique based on personal experience of chronic pain treatment, particularly in women patients. 
    ****After the presentation Ms. Kamen will be signing her book.

  • The Social Cost of Pain
    Wednesday, February 28, 2007 at Hektoen
    Kenneth Vaux, PhD, Professor of Theological Ethics, Garrett-Evangelical Seminary & Graduate Faculty, Northwestern University, will discuss the personal and social cost of the quest to ameliorate pain and offers a philosophical and theological reasoning to guide personal action and public policy. 

  • Substance Abuse and Addiction Issues in Pain Management
    Tuesday, March 27, 2007 at Hektoen
    Steven D. Passik, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry Weill Medical College of Cornell University; Associate Attending Psychologist Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York. Dr Passik will address the historical perspective on misuse of opioids in the setting of pain management, risk of addiction assessment for people with pain, the relationship between patient noncompliance with prescription drugs and potential addiction, and how to tailor pain management to patients with different levels of addiction risks.

  • Facing Pain: Davy, Freud, & Early Anesthesia
    Tuesday, April 3, 2007 at Hektoen
    George Bause, MD, Honorary Curator, American Society of Anesthesiologists’ Wood Library-Museum, Chicago and Clinical Associate Professor, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, will talk about developments in anesthesia from a historical point of view.
    Co-hosted by the Society of Medical History & Humanities

  • Ethical Issues in Pain Management: End-of- Life Care, Pain Control in Children and Under-treatment of Pain - Panel Discussion
    Wednesday, May 9, 2007 at IMSS
    Kenneth Vaux, PhD, Professor of Theological Ethics, Garrett-Evangelical Seminary & Graduate Faculty, Northwestern University; Larry Goldberg, MD, Head, Division of Palliative Medicine, Advocate Lutheran General Hospital; Ileana Leyva, MD, Director, Palliative Medicine, Central DuPage Hospital; Martha L. Twaddle, MD. Chief Medical Officer, Midwest Palliative & Hospice CareCenter.

This lecture series is generously supported by the Midwest Palliative & Hospice CareCenter and Seyfarth Shaw LLP and Today’s Chicago Woman

Click here to view current programs on pain.