“My friend, the pain”: does altered body awareness affect the valence of pain descriptors?
Background: Pain is a marker of bodily status, that despite being aversive under most conditions, may also be perceived as a positive experience. However, how bodily states represent, define, and interpret pain signals, and how these processes might be reflected in common language, remains unclear.Methods: Qualitative and quantitative methods were used to explore the relationship between bodily awareness, pain reactions, and descriptions.