Required Reading For Pain Sufferers: The Pain Chronicles (A Book Review)

The Pain Chronicles by Melanie ThernstromPublished in 2010, Melanie Thernstrom’s book “The Pain Chronicles” covers the many aspects of pain in near-encyclopedic detail. Despite its staggering range of information  the book manages to connect on a personal level with narratives scattered throughout. None less touching than the author’s personal 12 year struggle with chronic pain.

The book was conceived by the author, who, as a journalist and a pain sufferer wanted to shed light on the topic at large. She proceeded to spend years experimenting, investigating causes, treatments, interviewing patients and observing some of the top pain doctors in the United States.  The results are depressing, hopeful, and thought provoking all at the same time.

The book is broken down in 4 basic components: pain as a metaphor, pain as a disease, pain as a narrative and pain as a perception. Each of the four sections is segmented out into mini-chapters; many of which pack the punch of scientific text coupled with poetic eloquence.

Thernstrom takes the reader on a tour of the cultural history of pain, reviews countless scientific studies and gives faces some of her statistics. She successfully navigates the necessary sensitives of writing on book on pain while managing to not sugar coat. To describe the book as comprehensive is an enormous understatement.

Whether you are chronic pain patient or not the book is highly engaging. The meticulous research and well formed prose provide an excellent backbone, but the true character of the book is revealed in the writing about the people. There are so many thoughts, fears and experiences splashed throughout the pages its difficult to wrap ones head around. Despite the many reasons for hope there are few perfect outcomes and even fewer certainties. As Thernstorn writes: “pain brings out the best or worst in people. . . . We write about pain, but pain rewrites us.'' 

Written By: Colin