This case caused the International Association for the Study of Pain to form the Special Interest Group on Pain in Childhood in 1986. Because of their work, and the research of other similar groups, we now know that children of all ages do indeed feel pain and this pain is often more intense and frightening than the pain that adults experience. We also have now realized that the child is the ultimate authority on the pain he or she is feeling.

In July of this year, a research team at John Hopkins University and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) reported, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, that they had found a single gene that could explain why injuries that spell mere discomfort for one person could be mean agony for another. This gene, which controls the mu opiate receptor (a molecule that helps the body’s natural opiates enter cells), also provides clues as to why some people get more relief than other from opium-based painkillers.

Dr. George Uhl, of NIDA, said, “People have long been skeptical that pain has a genetic basis. Many assume the way people respond is voluntary. ‘Just put up with it’ has been a common recommendation for years. But now people can think of pain as a genetically regulated problem.” Causes of Pain

Genes are not the only causes of how intense pains could be. Many factors influence the way we feel pain. Child psychologist Leona Kuttner, Ph.D., in her book A Child in Pain: How to Help, What to Do (Hartley and Marks), includes these factors:

· sex
· temperament
· cultural norms
· parent’s anxiety level
· child’s anxiety level and perceptions
· extent of physical injury
· amount of stress
· type of analgesia (pain reliever) used
· developmental level
· previous painful experiences
These factors combine to determine how painful the situation is and how the child will respond. If a parent gets hysterical or faints upon seeing an injury, the child is apt to think her injury is very serious, and possibly even life threatening.