Pain: From Innate to Acquired

Pain is influenced by a combination of innate and acquired factors that evolve over an individual’s lifetime. Elements such as genetics, biological sex, and race play a role in determining our predisposition to have a high or low pain threshold or to be more or less susceptible to developing chronic pain. However, external factors such as the environment and learning experiences significantly modulate the acquired factors to the extent that two individuals with similar acquired factors may exhibit entirely different responses to pain and its treatment. Our unique sets of acquired and innate factors shape our reactions to another person’s pain. For clinicians, being mindful of potential unconscious biases can facilitate their correction and promote openness to diverse pain reactions and responses to treatment.