Pain and Distress
Part of Wellbeing for Life series
Everyone experiences pain, but how they communicate their pain is different.
People with a learning disability may be unable to:
- recognise their pain
- describe their pain
- tell others about their pain
- say where the pain is
This is very different to saying they do not experience pain or have a high pain threshold.
Contents of this mini book:
- What is pain?
- What is distress?
- Busting the myths
- Looking at pain in more detail
- Case study example – meet Michael
- The different types of pain:
- Pain in people with dementia and learning disability:
- How do people communicate pain and distress when they are unable to tell you directly?
- Looking at pain in more detail
- Using the MacIntyre person-centred thinking tools
- MacIntyre communication charts
- The MacIntyre pain and distress assessment tool
- Using ‘important to’ and ‘important for’
- Learning logs
- Learning logs example
- The pain cycle
- What can you do to help someone manage their pain or distress?
- Supporting the person
Download file
Are we making a difference?
We would love to hear if and how our resources are helping you support people with learning disabilities and with dementia or various other health needs.