Pain is often seen as universal and timeless, but how have people's understandings of pain changed over time? Did the invention of more effective analgesics and anaesthetics really revolutionise medical practices and human relationships to suffering?

Pain forces sufferers to 'pay attention' to their bodies. The way people-in-pain communicate their suffering has a profound effect on the type and quality of care they receive.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-history-of-pain

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

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