Year: 1983 Source: Social Science and Medicine, v.17, no.10, (1983), p.681-689 SIEC No: 19840398

A sociologist looks at the ongoing experience of chronic pain with its attendant coping process of searching for both relief & meaning for the intractable suffering. Religious, philosophical & mystical belief systems are explored along with their empirical use as resources to provide meaning for suffering. Suicide can result when the sense of meaning is lost.(LN)