In this blog post, we will examine whether pain is simply a signal for survival or a driving force for growth. Humans try to avoid pain, but sometimes it makes us stronger.
What is pain? The medical definition of pain is an unpleasant sensation caused by stimulation of special nerves that have pain receptors. Or, from an evolutionary perspective, it can be considered a product of evolution and adaptation that humans and many other animals have developed through natural selection in order to avoid threats. For example, if you get burned, you will avoid hot things in the future, and if you eat something bad, you will filter out food by feeling stomach pain, and you will protect your body from sharp objects or shocks in order to survive more effectively. Pain is more than just an unpleasant sensation; it is an important warning signal for survival and a defense mechanism of the body. However, since pain is an instinct for survival, it is only natural to want to avoid it. Pain is an essential experience in human life, but at the same time, it is something we want to avoid. Even in modern society, we strive to reduce pain in various ways. For example, there are psychological therapies and drug treatments to deal with mental pain, and various medical approaches to alleviate chronic pain. This shows that pain has a significant impact not only on the physical realm but also on the mental and emotional realms. However, ironically, many people who seek to eliminate pain end up ending their lives in other forms of pain.
Throughout history, the most effective method humans have used to reduce pain has been anesthesia, which temporarily prevents the sensation of pain. While this does not completely eliminate pain, it provides significant relief to the patient in the moment. However, anesthesia was not established for a long time, and during that period, countless people had to endure pain. The process of treating patients in hospitals and performing surgeries was barbaric, filled with screams, and most patients had to witness and feel their own bodies being cut open. In many cases, patients died from shock caused by the pain.
Then, in the early 19th century, a chance discovery began to alleviate people’s suffering. In the early 19th century, ether and nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas, became popular among the upper classes in the United States. This method of anesthesia brought revolutionary changes to the medical field, and the discovery of anesthesia contributed not only to medical advancement but also to a significant improvement in the quality of human life. Dr. Crawford Long was one of them. One day, while enjoying himself by inhaling laughing gas as usual, he realized that he did not feel any pain from a bruise. This led him to decide to verify the anesthetic effects of ether. He performed an anesthetic surgery using ether on a patient with a tumor in the throat, and the successful surgery marked the birth of ether anesthesia.
However, he focused solely on developing his method through clinical research and did not announce the discovery of anesthesia to the academic community. Meanwhile, there was another dentist named Horace Wells. While attending a lecture on nitrous oxide, he witnessed an audience member who had inhaled nitrous oxide and felt no pain.
The next day, he experimented with nitrous oxide anesthesia on himself and successfully extracted a tooth in a state of calm. This marked the birth of nitrous oxide anesthesia. In fact, others had discovered anesthetic effects before, but it was Horace Wells who successfully commercialized them for medical use. Unfortunately, however, the demonstration of the anesthetic method to gain recognition for this discovery failed due to an error in calculating the appropriate dosage, leaving Horace Wells frustrated. Nevertheless, his attempt became an important turning point in the development of anesthetic methods and eventually established itself as a widely recognized method in the medical field.
However, a glimmer of hope emerged from the crowd. A man named William Morton witnessed the scene and sought advice from Charles Jackson, a professor of chemistry at Harvard University. He then used ether instead of nitrous oxide during dental procedures to confirm its effectiveness. After repeated clinical applications, he contacted newspapers and the patent office. Subsequently, ether anesthesia surgery performed under the supervision of Dr. John Warren spread nationwide, but a dispute over the patent rights to ether began. While the anesthetic method brought innovation to the medical field, the rights and fame surrounding it instead sparked another form of suffering.
And then tragedy strikes. Horace Wells, who developed nitrous oxide anesthesia, was already the subject of ridicule in the scientific community despite his continued research. He eventually applied the anesthetic to his own body, leading to the worsening of his mental illness. He was arrested on charges of sulfuric acid terrorism after attacking a passerby. Despite his potential to alleviate the suffering of many through the use of nitrous oxide, he ultimately succumbed to his mental anguish and took his own life by severing an artery while in prison. Tragically, this occurred just 12 days before a letter arrived acknowledging him as the first discoverer and researcher of nitrous oxide anesthesia from the Paris Medical Association.
Additionally, a patent dispute over ether, known as the “Ether Controversy,” erupted. Charles Jackson, the chemistry professor mentioned earlier, could not tolerate William Morton’s claim to sole credit for the discovery of ether, and the controversy escalated to the point of reaching Congress, ultimately leading to the rediscovery of Crawford Long’s achievements. However, he avoided getting entangled in this messy dispute, and despite their contributions, William Morton and Charles Jackson met tragic ends due to their inability to compromise their own ambitions. Morton also succumbed to mental illness and financial ruin caused by patent lawsuits, and died of a stroke while running down the street in 1868. Charles Jackson was also committed to a mental hospital due to mental illness and died alone in 1880.
In this way, numerous general anesthetics such as ether and nitrous oxide were established, and humanity was able to gain some freedom from the pain that had tormented us endlessly. Anesthesia changed humanity’s response to pain, contributed to its alleviation, and saved countless lives.
Ironically, however, these pioneers who reduced the suffering of countless people and even saved lives often met tragic ends. We must remember the pioneers who endured suffering in this process. Most of them did not hesitate to use their own bodies as experimental subjects to establish their anesthetic methods, and as a result, they suffered from mental illness while striving to eliminate others’ pain. Through their own suffering, they led humanity toward hope. Pain is an inseparable part of human history, but at the same time, human efforts to overcome it have continued unabated. The development of anesthesia transcends mere medical progress; it symbolizes humanity’s will to overcome pain and the noble efforts of those who sacrificed themselves in the process.
Thanks to their efforts, we are now able to live with less pain, which can be considered one of humanity’s most important achievements. However, the effort to reduce pain is far from over. Although modern medicine has made great strides compared to the past, many people still live in pain, which remains a new challenge.
Today, we are striving to manage pain not only through anesthesia but also through various other methods. For example, patients suffering from chronic pain are treated with a combination of medication, physical therapy, and psychological therapy, and various nerve block techniques and surgical methods are being developed. Efforts are also being made to reduce mental pain.
New treatments for mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are being researched as part of efforts to understand and manage pain more comprehensively. Beyond simply eliminating pain, research is also actively underway on how to better manage and accept pain. Eastern philosophy teaches that pain is a part of life and that it can lead to growth.
Buddhism explores the causes of pain and proposes practices such as mindfulness meditation as a way to resolve them. This approach is not simply about avoiding pain, but about finding ways to live with it.
The issue of pain is also important from a social and ethical perspective. With the advancement of life-prolonging technologies, there is active discussion about how to manage the pain of terminally ill patients.
Bioethics seeks ways to minimize pain while maintaining the dignity of patients, and approaches such as hospice and palliative care are examples of this. This means a comprehensive approach that goes beyond simply eliminating pain and considers the quality of human life.
Pain is an important element that warns us of danger, helps us survive, and sometimes even helps us grow. However, at the same time, pain is also an unpleasant experience that we want to avoid. This dual nature of pain complicates the way humans approach it. We often find ourselves in a contradictory situation where we strive to eliminate pain while also seeking to learn something through it.
The invention of anesthesia fundamentally changed humanity’s approach to pain. However, pain cannot be completely eliminated, and we continue to live our lives amidst pain. This may be because pain is an essential part of human existence. How we handle pain determines the quality of our lives, and understanding and managing pain can enrich our lives.
Pain is an inevitable part of life, but it also offers the possibility of growth and development. A deep understanding of pain gives us the strength to accept it and transform it into something positive. We should view pain not as something to be avoided, but as an important factor that guides us toward a better future.
In this way, how we deal with pain is not simply a personal issue, but one that extends to society as a whole.
How we understand pain and how we respond to it shapes our social values and ethics. Therefore, it is an important task to seek appropriate responses based on a deeper understanding of pain in order to lead our society in a better direction. Research and understanding of pain must continue, and through this, we will be able to find hope even in pain and move toward a better future.
Pain is an inescapable reality, but there is endless potential for learning from it. This learning is the driving force that enables humans to transcend pain and grow to a higher level.
Looking beyond pain to the hope and potential for growth that lies beyond, we must overcome pain and move forward today.
