# Do people with cluster headache disorder stand up better against torture

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-with-cluster-headache-disorder-stand-up-better-against-torture/824987>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [November 23, 2018, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-with-cluster-headache-disorder-stand-up-better-against-torture/824987 "2018-11-23T23:13:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2018, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-with-cluster-headache-disorder-stand-up-better-against-torture/824987/1 "2018-11-23T23:13:39Z")

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Not sure how you’d study this, but do people with chronic pain disorders stand up better to torture?

Especially people with cluster headache disorders, which are supposedly the worst pain a person can experience.

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**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2018, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-with-cluster-headache-disorder-stand-up-better-against-torture/824987/2 "2018-11-24T00:02:18Z")

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> [@Wesley\_Clark](#):
>
> Not sure how you’d study this, but do people with chronic pain disorders stand up better to torture?
> 
> Especially people with cluster headache disorders, which are supposedly the worst pain a person can experience.

I can’t recall the source, but I’ve read that constant exposure to pain can make many victims \*more \*sensitive to pain, not less, and that that is why some burn or other major-injury patients are sedated, because otherwise their pain sensitivity will increase in the years down the road.

Also, I’d imagine that torture is a different bag altogether, in that you are dealing with a situation of a very different kind of fear and terror, and people with malicious intent towards you, and that in a certain sense whether the pain continues or not is up to you (well, if your torturers are only torturing you for information.) A cluster headache would be different - there’s no “malice” involved; just unfortunate nature at work, and there’s nothing you can do to reason with it except get meds or treatment. As for other forms of chronic pain, it’s predictable - it sucks, but at least you know what it’s going to be. Torture is totally unpredictable; they could do anything to you.