Physical Pain: Good thing or bad thing?

I think the idea is preposterous.
To me, the pains would be additive. If I have emotional pain, why on earth would I want additional pain, of any form. To me the rule is simple and obvious: The least total pain the better. And I honestly cannot comprehend why some people enjoy hurting themselves. I get pissed off whenever my body is injured, even slightly, because it's the only thing I truly have in this world and I have to take care of it.
If I'm in emotional pain, and on top of that my cat-scratch wounds hurt, I would not be having a good day.

What good is anything when you don't have your health?
 
Physical pain relieves mental pain, it's as simple as that. I have hurt myself a few times on purpose and all I can say is that sometimes when you're feeling really bad, it appears to be a good idea. It doesnt make sense, I know but it works like that.
 
Ooh.. we're getting all serious now..

Yes, it can relieve emotional pain. But you're all looking at it the wrong way. It's not just because "that's the way it is". It relieves emotional pain indirectly because it is a distraction. The human mind is limited. It has a finite working space for processing. It has to be divided, or it has to be individually and subsequently rationed amongst different things by the use of what's called 'attention'.
If you experience strong physical pain, it would of course take up your mind's attention. The fact that your puppy got run over by the milk truck* will not be registering in your mind because it would no longer be under its attention. And being that virtually anything can occupy your brain's attention, it is silly to choose pain, of all things, as the distraction.

I'm just saying that I, myself, would choose among these many other things.
I understand that physical pain can be quite efficient at this, but to me it's logical that it's a terrible choice nonetheless, being that it's harmful ..and in many occasions, even more so than the emotional pain.

You could back up a bit into a meat grinder to scratch your back, but that's not exactly what Einstein would do..
You could get under a launching cruise missile to light your cigarrette ..but why the fuck would you chose to.

In a way, I also see that notion as a weakness. Most other things that can be used as distraction from emotional pain (i.g. hobbies, entertainment, etc..) take work to be maintained as a distraction.. I realize that it is not easy to simply not think about a bad emotional state, even if you're trying to distract yourself; and physical pain is one distraction that doesn't take effort to maintain. That's why it may be an easier way out.
But it does not make it a sensible choice.

* it happened to me :/
 
You've obviously never been there :)
The point is, you're right, but it doesnt work that way. Also, I think it makes sense to draw your brain's attention from the mental pain to the physical pain (which doesnt significantly change your health status anyway). And pain obviously occupies your brain a lot more than sports do (sports is pretty much the only thing I can think of as a hobby there, because I dont see anyone, who is in such mental pain he wants to hurt himself just sit down and read a book or something)
 
If I get really mad or exasperated about something to the point where I kick a post or punch a wall, I know that I'm doing it for the desire to smash things... Like a physical release. The pain really has nothing to do with it for me. I do think different people will have different approaches to this. I'm inclined to agree more with Mags, because pain pisses me off even more pretty much no matter what. I understand pain can serve as a distraction, although Say my - family died and I was upset *touch wood* I wouldnt think to punch myself in the face. Even though the painful memories would be covered up momentarilly, a day later I'd have a fucked up face and a dead family. It would be a shit day.
 
I think the Mags-KC side is missing the following point: when someone is, say, depressed and want to hurt themselves, it's not only a distraction from pain. It can also be some sort of self-punishment (maybe not very consciously, and let's not forget that the psychology in such cases is most likely a bit disturbed, so logic can be overriden).
 
i agree with you magsec
but anyway...maybe it is all about each head...we all think different
maybe what is not a good idea for you or me seems to be a good idea for others...and maybe when youre feeling great emotional pain youre not thinking clearly...im saying just maybe..
 
I've pulled my hair before and slapped my face for pissing myself off, but this didn't cure any emotional pain... It was strictly punishment. It was me, trying to cause more pain to imbed the message that doing certain things, or acting in certain ways is fucking stupid and shouldn't be repeated.
 
So, Bumping this.

I watched Oldboy a while ago and saw part of Oh-Dae Su's training when incarcerated was beating the holy hell into his wall.

I want to toughen up, and I've just had some arguments that would be too Emo to go into here, and it's not important to the point.

So I beat the sweet fuck into this door that's dumped in my back garden. Now, not only do I feel like a tough guy (hahaha... no seriously... ha), but the emotional pain is absolutely gone. Yes my hand hurts, but I've got one of those knuckle callous things and I know next time I'll be able to punch harder (that's if Im in a fight or something - which is becoming more and more likely with the amount of people 'Happy slapping' these days).

I've changed my pacifistic stance on physical pain not being able to cover emotional pain. It seems retarded that it does, but it does... against human nature and instinct self destruction is an enlightening therapy.

Any medics out there seen Oldboy? I wonder, because I want to know what those things on his knuckles are. Is it fluid under the skin or is it just lumpy hard skin? Mine seems to be filled with fluid :ill:.
 
KC, you're an animal.
Go get 'em, tiger
wink.gif



Bro, it's not the physical pain that appeased your emotional pain. It was the satisfaction of a desire you had. The realization of a goal. The taste of empowerment that you wanted to taste. You wanted to 'toughen up' like said character in the movie. In this particular case it just so happened that physical pain was attached to the matter, since it involved aggressively assaulting something with your bare hands.
For instance, many others would gain the same satisfaction you gained (overcoming their emotional pain) by hitting that door with a plumber's wrench or a baseball bat. Equally so, a gunman could make himself feel better by pumping a few bullets into something. In either case, there is no physical pain brought about.
 
Hey KC, welcome to 4 months back ;)

Mag: Your explanation makes sense, but you're talking about something else. There's no argument about the senselesness of self mutilation, but why do you reject it so much? I know from experience that it works, so you're not going to convince me otherwise.
 
I have to say, what Mags describes sounds similar to what I felt... but the pain distracted me from my mental anguish for sure. It's definately a bit of both in this case.

Hitting the door with a club wouldn't have worked I dont think, but similarly taking a cheeses grater to my fist would have just upset me :(. I treated the pain as a reward instead of a con.
 
Magsec im sure your theory is well based but please refrain from saying Oh Daesu used to hit walls because he wanted to be tough. He hit walls out of sheer frustration and desperation, he never wanted to become a tough guy, he became one because of the incredible inhuman experiences that were forced upon him.
 
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