Of course there are various levels of pain. In this particular context I mean the pain that comes from attaching too strongly to praise as a source of self-esteem, so that when I don't get the praise I find myself devastated with low self esteem. In Buddhism we talk about different kinds of dukkha (suffering): suffering associated with sickness, old age and death, and then the suffering of wanting things and not getting them, or of getting them and discovering that you didn't want them.