The Pain Chronicles: Cures Myths Mysteries Prayers Diaries Brain Scans Healing and the Science of Suffering

In The Pain Chronicles Melanie Thernstrom traces conceptions of pain throughout the ages―from ancient Babylonian pain-banishing spells to modern brain imaging―to reveal the elusive mysterious nature of pain itself. Interweaving first-person reflections on her own battle with chronic pain incisive reportage from leading pain clinics and medical research and insights from a wide range of disciplines Thernstrom shows that when dealing with pain we are neither as advanced as we imagine nor as helpless as we may fear.