UBC Press The Mystery of Pain book Paperback

Why does scratching an itch feel so good? Why is pain from a mosquito bite preferable to the same pain from an unidentified source?
Douglas Nelson provides the reader with a comprehensive, practical and highly accessible guide to the scientific understanding of pain. The book explores the different types of pain, providing clear explanations of the processes involved within the body. It examines key issues such as diagnosis and measurement of pain, the placebo effect and fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS), and takes an in depth look at causes and treatment for chronic pain. The book is full of practical advice and small changes one can make to improve the effectiveness of pain treatment.
Presented as a personal tutorial for understanding the psychology of pain, this book will be useful for practitioners, patients, and the general reader alike. It will be of particular interest to psychologists, alternative medicine practitioners, massage therapists and psychotherapists.

Douglas Nelson is a licensed massage therapist from Champaign, Illinois (USA) and has been in practice since 1977. In addition to his therapy clinic with multiple practitioners, his teaching institute (NMT MidWest) has conducted hundreds of seminars in Precision Neuromuscular Therapy to manual therapy providers in the USA and abroad.