Pain is an experience that none of us would like to have but that each one of us is destined to experience in our lives. Despite
its pervasiveness, the experience of pain remains problematic and complex in its depth. Pain is a multidimensional experience that
involves nociception as well as emotional and cognitive aspects that can modulate its perception. Following a brief discussion of the
neurobiological mechanisms underlying pain, the purpose of this review is to discuss the main psychological, neuropsychological,
cultural, and existential aspects which are the basis of diverse forms of pain, like the pain of separation from caregivers or from
ourselves (e.g., connected to the thought of our death), the suffering that we experience observing other people’s pain, the pain of
change and the existential pain connected to the temporal dimension of the mind. Finally, after a discussion of how the mind is able
to not only create but also alleviate the pain, through mechanisms such as the expectation of the treatment and the hope of healing,
we conclude by discussing neuropsychological research data and the attitude promoted by mindfulness meditation in relation to
the pain. An attitude in which, instead to avoid and reject the pain, one learns to face mindfully the experience of pain
