Rethinking the role of suffering in healthcare: Reflections on the interdisciplinary study day of March 20, 2025
On March 20, Astrid Chevance (psychiatrist and epidemiologist) and Luz Ascarate (philosopher) organized an interdisciplinary study day entitled “Suffering and Pain,” bringing together several philosophers and clinicians. The event was held within the walls of the Hôtel-Dieu Hospital in Paris, underscoring the urgent need to reexamine the role of suffering in contemporary medical practice—an aspect that remains largely undefined.
This study day followed the recent English translation of Paul Ricoeur’s text “Suffering Is Not Pain”, published alongside a set of articles on the philosophy of suffering in the open-access journal : Études Ricoeuriennes / Ricoeur Studies.
Speakers explored in depth the distinction between pain and suffering, questioning the possibility of their dissociation. While pain has benefited from an international medical definition since 1976—allowing for the development of extensive research and clinical practices in medicine, psychology, and other fields—suffering continues to lack a clear conceptual status within medical discourse. Absent from diagnostic classifications and treatment protocols, it remains in a state of conceptual indeterminacy, often relegated to the margins of care, viewed instead as a matter of moral, existential, or spiritual subjectivity.
The discussions also sought to understand the clinical implications of this distinction, particularly regarding holistic patient care. Health professionals are frequently faced with patients whose requests for relief exceed the bounds of physical complaint. The dissociation between pain—as a bodily sensation—and suffering—as an experience linked to loss, the challenge of meaning, or the disruption of personal integrity—fundamentally shapes approaches to care and calls for a more integrative model of patient support.
Ultimately, this day of reflection refined the understanding of suffering from clinical, philosophical, and ethical perspectives. Moving beyond the simple distinction from pain, the discussions emphasized the need to reconnect the question of suffering with the relational dimension of caregiving.
The full set of lectures is available on the YouTube channel of the Espace Éthique: Journée d’étude “La souffrance et la douleur” – YouTube.
Études Ricoeuriennes / Ricoeur Studies
Espace éthique/Ile-de-France | Au service des valeurs du soin
Par Romane Verschelde
