ABSTRACT
In writing about the essential qualities of bodily pain, Scarry (1985) makes the point that we experience pain in such a way that it is simultaneously “something that cannot be denied and something that cannot be confirmed” (p. 13). In other words, “to have pain is to have certainty; to hear about pain is to have doubt.” In this chapter, my aim is to describe the lived experience of people who came to know the certainty of pain, in particular, inflicted pain.
