Pain is a distressing feeling often caused by intense or damaging stimuli.
The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as "an
unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling
that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage." In medical
diagnosis, pain is regarded as a symptom of an underlying condition.
Pain motivates the individual to withdraw from damaging situations, to protect
a damaged body part while it heals, and to avoid similar experiences in the
future. Most pain resolves once the noxious stimulus is removed and the body
has healed, but it may persist despite removal of the stimulus and apparent
healing of the body. Sometimes pain arises in the absence of any detectable
stimulus, damage or disease.