New collaborative funding project in the field of pain research

Starting in January 2026, HEAD Genuit Foundation will fund the research project “Suffering and the Construction of Meaning in Chronic Pain“. This interdisciplinary project is a logical continuation of the 2024 conference “From Pain to Suffering: Determining the Driving Factors of Burden and Disability in Chronic Pain.”

The three-year medical-philosophical collaborative project between Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Faculty of Philosophy at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam aims to improve the long-term understanding and care of people suffering from chronic pain. To better understand pain-related suffering, a clear definition is needed that serves as a basis for interdisciplinary discussions. Building on this, a theoretical model will be developed that describes when pain-related suffering arises. The research will examine the meaning that those affected attribute to chronic pain and which contributes to the formation of certain illness narratives. In a final step, illness narratives of people living with chronic pain will be analyzed and classified in a qualitative clinical study based on interviews. The results will contribute to a better understanding of pain-related suffering and the development of meaningful strategies to adequately care for people with chronic pain.