In 1994, responding to the need for a more useful system for describing chronic pain, the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) classified pain according to specific characteristics: (1) region of the body involved (e.g. abdomen, lower limbs), (2) system whose dysfunction may be causing the pain (e.g., nervous, gastrointestinal), (3) duration and pattern of occurrence, (4) intensity and time since onset, and (5) etiology. However, this system has been criticized by Clifford J. Woolf and others as inadequate for guiding research and treatment. Woolf suggests three classes of pain : (1) nociceptive pain, (2) inflammatory pain which is associated with tissue damage and the infiltration of immune cells, and (3) pathological pain which is a disease state caused by damage to the nervous system or by its abnormal function (e.g. fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, tension type headache, etc.).
What is the definition of pathological dysfunction? (If the question is unanswerable, say "unanswerable")
unanswerable