Recognizing Pain
Of the three meltdown triggers that drive behaviors, experiencing pain and discomfort is extremely significant. This is because pain affects behavior. Think of the last time you were sick and feeling significant pain or discomfort. Was the pain a symptom of flu, migraine, menstrual cramps, a pulled muscle, or some other physiological condition? Now, think of how being in such pain manifested in your behavior. Perhaps you:
Were especially hypersensitive to light or sound
Just wanted to crawl under the covers and stay there
Lashed out or snapped at loved ones
Lashed out or snapped when anyone made a demand of you
Just wanted to be left alone
Felt especially vulnerable
Once your brain recognized the signals your body was sending it, you sought relief from the pain because you wanted to feel better. You also knew that relief was available to you. In assuming personal responsibility for your health and well-being, you took medication, pampered yourself, slept, or made a doctor's appointment. You did these things with the expectation that the pain would be alleviated in short order and you would return to feeling “normal” once again.
Fact
At times, some individuals have difficulty verbally communicating their pain or the exact point of its origin. Others may not know how much pain they should endure before telling someone. The opportunity to access visual alternatives to speech such as pictures, written language, and scales of pain levels and intensity may be especially useful in addressing this issue, especially in young children.
But what if the pain was not treated and was allowed to persist? Suppose relief was not immediate or an option? Revisit the previous list and consider how your behavior might intensify the longer you had to endure pain. Not only would you feel lousy, you would also feel disoriented and distracted. Your attention would be focused on trying your best to cope and manage the pain that threatens to overwhelm you at any moment. In short, slowly but surely, your mental health would be affected, eroded, and over time, seriously impaired. Your ability to function, care for yourself, or interact with others with a measure of quality would be greatly reduced. Your self-esteem would suffer as well, and you might not care about your appearance. The culmination of feeling physical pain would converge with mental anguish, leaving you weak and vulnerable.
Now, reflect on your child's experiences with pain. Take your own experiences and multiply them using this perspective and you may quickly understand how debilitating the experience of enduring pain may be for your child, especially if the pain goes undetected, unreported, and untreated.
