Phantom limbs come back to haunt amputees, sometimes so vividly that they can
describe the illusory discomfort of badly fitting shoes or the agony of a
nonexistent ingrown toenail. That the pain is more than a simple biological
response to tissue damage is beyond doubt, so why have the psychological aspects
of pain been ignored by therapists for so long? In Psychology of Pain (John
Wiley , £16.99, ISBN 0 471 95773 9), Suzanne Skevington offers an
integrated model of pain that focuses not just on its biological roots but on
the whole subjective experience, with all the implications that has for
improving the quality of life of patients in pain.
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