Pain, for example, neuropathic pain such as peripheral neuropathic pain, may be treated or alleviated by administering to a subject an effective amount of one or more caspase inhibitors. Activator and effector caspases, defining components of programmed cell death (PCD, apoptosis) signaling pathways, have been found to also contribute to pain-related behavior in animals with small-fiber peripheral neuropathies. The death receptor ligand, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF.alpha.) and its downstream second messenger, ceramide, also produce pain-related behavior via this mechanism.