The IASP definition captures the essence of pain experience

Abstract

Cunningham has delivered a critique of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) definition of pain from a very narrow standpoint. The reference to subjectivity and the multidimensional aspects of the definition were reduced to mean nothing more than an ability of “verbal report.” This indefensible straw man position was then demolished and replaced with a “signaling” theory of pain that was only minimally described. Cunningham's argument unfairly presents current medical practice as the enemy, oversimplifies the complexity of treating pain, and too easily dismisses our theoretical understanding of pain expressed through the IASP definition.