Letters
Neurology
Volume 196 - Issue 11

First-person neuroscience and the understanding of pain

Authors:  Lester E Jones and Laura Y Whitburn

Med J Aust 2012; 196 (11): 684. || doi: 10.5694/mja12.10746
Published online: 18 June 2012
To the Editor: At first, Thacker and Moseley appear to do an about-turn on much of their published work by de-emphasising the role of the brain and nervous system in the human pain experience.1 However, on closer scrutiny, their reflection encapsulates key messages for health professionals about pain not being located in the tissues, while exposing the inadequacy of non-person-centred approaches to their practice and ...
Download PDF (64 KB)
Share: Share on Blue Sky Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn Share by email

To the Editor: At first, Thacker and Moseley appear to do an about-turn on much of their published work by de-emphasising the role of the brain and nervous system in the human pain experience.1 However, on closer scrutiny, their reflection encapsulates key messages for health professionals about pain not being located in the tissues, while exposing the inadequacy of non-person-centred approaches to their practice and to researching pain.

The questioning of current research strategies is timely given that research on novel brain-focused pain treatments, such as graded motor imagery, is beginning to gain traction in the clinical community.2 A risk with such technique-based treatments is that they are adopted with little thought to the mechanisms that optimise their application or to the person they are applied to.

Importantly, in considering these novel approaches, health professionals must be careful not to fall back into retrograde tissue-model habits, drawing focus on the reorganised homunculi of the brain as the next tissue to target. Instead, we should be excited by the continuing mystery surrounding the mind, the self and consciousness — each being an essential component of any perceptual experience.3,4 Thacker and Moseley’s reflection on the adequacy of modern neuroscience reminds us — and gently directs us — to re-engage with the person, or the whole being, and to be cautious about our attributions to, and our focus on, the brain.

Authors

  • Lester E Jones1
  • Laura Y Whitburn1
  • 1. La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC.

Correspondence: l.jones@latrobe.edu.au

Competing interests

No relevant disclosures.

References

View this article on Wiley Online Library

More like this

Neurology Perspective 3 November 2025 Free

Mild traumatic brain injury and concussion and persisting post‐concussion symptoms: new guidelines to support evidence‐based assessment and management in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand

Karen M Barlow, Jennie L Ponsford, Alice Theodom, Gill Cowen, Gavin A Davis, Vicki Anderson, Franz E Babl, David Cole, Jennifer Cullen, Stuart R Dalziel, Melinda Fitzgerald, Howard Flavell, Caroline Yates, Rebecca Kimble, John H Olver, Rhonda Orr, Mark Ralfe, Michael Rose, Nick Rushworth, Julia Treleaven, Gary Browne, Nathan Delang, Sarah Harris, Gary Mitchell, Sean Tweedy

Neurology Research 4 August 2025 Open Access

The prevalence of and variation in indicators of the quality and safety of long term aged care in Australia, 2019: a cross‐sectional population‐based study

Tesfahun C Eshetie, Gillian E Caughey, Catherine Lang, Olivia Ryan, Renuka Visvanathan, Craig Whitehead, Keith Evans, Janet K Sluggett, Jyoti Khadka, Carolyn Dawkins, Helena Williams, Miranda Starke, Sara Blunt, Anne Liddell, Megan Corlis, Anna Sheppeard, Penelope Lello, Marilyn Thien, Steven L Wesselingh, Maria C Inacio

View more