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Faith Brynie Ph.D.
Brain Sense

RELATIONSHIPS

Lost Love
Hurts...Literally!
Social and physical pain are the
same to the brain.
Posted March 28, 2011

You burn your hand. Ouch! That hurts! So

does the breakup of a romantic relation‐
ship--but that's a different kind of pain.
Right?

Wrong!

Social rejection stimulates increased ac‐

tivity in the same regions of the brain as
does physical pain. As far as neurons
know, a psychological hurt is no different
:
know, a psychological hurt is no different
from a physical one.

So says a new research study published

Relationships Essential
online this week in the Proceedings of
Reads
the National Academy of Sciences Early
Edition. A team of researchers from sev‐
Episodic Intimacy vs.
eral US institutions recruited 40 individu‐ Committed Intimacy
als who felt intensely rejected after a re‐
cent and unwanted romantic break-up.
When Should You Say "I
The volunteers performed two kinds of Love You”?
tasks during functional MRI (fMRI) scan‐
ning of their brains. One kind was the
What to Do If Your Worst
Social Rejection task: participants viewed Breakup Keeps Haunting
a picture of their former partner and You

thought about their rejection. The other

was the Physical Pain task in which the 6 Simple Truths to a
Lasting Relationship
left forearm was stimulated with an un‐
comfortable level of heat. For control
purposes, these extreme stimuli were 15 Signs that a
Relationship May Be Over
compared with alternatives that were
more benign: viewing a picture of a
friend while recalling a happy time and a
merely warm stimulus on the arm. Proce‐ ADVERTISEMENT
dures and statistics controlled for vari‐
ables including task order and personal
traits such as gender, self-esteem, and
the length of relationship.

The brain scans revealed that both ex‐

treme stimuli (the romantic breakup and
the heat) led to overlapping increases in
activity in the brain's pain regions, includ‐
:
activity in the brain's pain regions, includ‐
ing areas called the dorsal anterior cin‐
gulate (dACC) and anterior insula (AI)
(see figure). The researchers also found
overlapping increases in activity in the
thalamus and the right parietal opercu‐
lar/insular cortex.

Brain scans show significant overlap of the brain

regions that process physical and social pain.

"These results give new meaning to the

idea that social rejection ‘hurts,'" write
the researchers. The investigators offer
an evolutionary hypothesis to explain
Find a Therapist
Get the help you need from a
their findings. They suggest that the
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brain systems that today deal with social from Psychology Today.
rejection co-opted physical pain regions
of the brain as human beings evolved as City or Zip
social animals.

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Cities:

Atlanta, GA
They say their findings may lead to new
:
 Atlanta, GA
They say their findings may lead to new
Austin, TX
insights into how psychological pain can
have physical consequences--as the vari‐ Baltimore, MD

ous somatoform disorders demonstrate. Boston, MA

The findings also have implications for Brooklyn, NY

basic research on emotion. "Although the Charlotte, NC
experience of social rejection is com‐ Chicago, IL
monly accompanied by reports of vari‐
Columbus, OH
ous emotions (e.g., fear, sadness, anger,
Dallas, TX
anxiety, and shame)," the researchers
Denver, CO
write, "it is generally assumed that these
Detroit, MI
feelings cumulatively give rise to a
unique experience of ‘social pain.'" The Houston, TX

results of this study are consistent with Indianapolis, IN

that view. "The distress elicited in re‐ Jacksonville, FL

sponse to intense social rejection may Las Vegas, NV
represent a distinct emotional experi‐ Los Angeles, CA
ence that is uniquely associated with
Louisville, KY
physical pain," they conclude.
Memphis, TN

Miami, FL
Sources:
Milwaukee, WI

Ethan Kross, Marc G. Berman, Walter Minneapolis, MN

Mischel, Edward E. Smith, and Tor D. Wa‐ Nashville, TN

ger. Social rejection shares somatosen‐ New York, NY

sory representations with physical pain. Oakland, CA
PNAS (March 22, 2011). Omaha, NE

Philadelphia, PA
Top graphic from Photobucket.
Phoenix, AZ

Pittsburgh, PA

Portland, OR

Raleigh, NC
:
 Sacramento, CA
About the Author Saint Louis, MO

San Antonio, TX

Faith Brynie, Ph.D, is a San Diego, CA

scientific and medical San Francisco, CA
writer. She is the author
San Jose, CA
of Brain Sense
(Amacom, 2009). Seattle, WA

Tucson, AZ
Online: My Website
Washington, DC

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