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The Painful Truth

The Painful Truth

The new science of why we hurt and how we can heal

Summary

'An enthralling read' - Dr Rachel Clarke, bestselling author of Dear Life
A Royal Society Science Prize shortlisted author
'A remarkable book' - Sunday Times
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What is phantom limb pain? Can words actually hurt? Why do we experience pain, even after we've healed?

We know pain when we feel it. We fear it and try to avoid it. But do we know what it really is? We're currently experiencing a Renaissance in pain science. In recent years our understanding of pain has altered so radically it's fair to say that everything we thought we knew about pain is wrong. As Dr Monty Lyman reveals, we misunderstand pain - with harmful consequences.

Exploring cutting-edge research that encompasses everything from phantom aches to persistent pain, as well as interviews with survivors of torture and those who have never felt pain, Dr Lyman not only provides hope for reducing and managing pain but takes us to a deeper understanding of what it means to be human.

This is the untold story of pain - our most elusive feeling.

'Accessible and well-written... Dr Lyman takes us into the world of pain' Mail on Sunday
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Praise for Monty Lyman and The Remarkable Life of the Skin

- 'Seriously entertaining'
The Times

- 'A talented new writer'
Sunday Times

- 'Beautifully written, revealing and surprising' Daily Mail

- 'Imaginatively told' The Spectator

- 'An absorbing, fact-packed study' Nature

- 'What a read it is' Vogue

- 'Fascinating' Daily Express

Reviews

  • A remarkable book that explores the boundaries and the meaning of pain - and how conventional understanding and treatment are failing us.
    Sunday Times

About the author

Monty Lyman

Dr Monty Lyman is a medical doctor, researcher and author who specializes in the relationship between the mind and the immune system. He is an Academic Clinical Fellow at the University of Oxford. His first book, The Remarkable Life of the Skin, was shortlisted for the Royal Society Science Book Prize, was one of the Sunday Times Best Books of 2019 and was a Radio 4 Book of the Week. An essay from his second book, The Painful Truth, won the 2020 Royal Society of Medicine’s Pain Medicine Prize.
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