Painsare

Painsare is a term used in discussions of pain to describe a holistic framework that treats pain as an integrated experience comprising sensory, emotional, cognitive, and social dimensions, rather than a purely physiological signal. Proponents use painsare to highlight how context—such as mood, identity, and social roles—shapes the experience and reporting of pain.

Origin and usage: The neologism painsare emerged in scholarly and patient communities in the mid-2010s as an attempt to foreground awareness of the experiential aspect of pain. It is not widely standardized, and definitions vary between sources.

Conceptual scope and methods: In painsare-informed work, assessment combines conventional nociceptive measures with patient narratives, functional impact, and psychosocial factors. It supports a biopsychosocial approach and often informs patient-centered care and qualitative research.

Relation to other terms and critique: Critics argue that painsare overlaps with existing concepts such as pain experience or biopsychosocial pain models, and that the term may be ambiguous or redundant. Proponents counter that it emphasizes lived experience and contextual factors explicitly.

See also: pain perception, chronic pain, biopsychosocial model, pain catastrophizing, central sensitization.