When It Comes to Grief, the Best Medicine Is a Placebo.
Since Neil Sedaka was once harmonious for all bopper kids,breaking up with him is tough . If only he knew about this new study. This suggests that you can recover from your breakup simply by believing that you are doing something to help yourself get over it.
A study published in The Journal of Neuroscience found evidence that a common mental trick can affect areas of the brain associated with emotional regulation and reduce the perception of social pain, such as when you are wallowing around your ex. Researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder measured the neurological and behavioral impact of the placebo effect on participants who had recently had heart failure.
Volunteers who recently experienced a breakup were told to bring a photo of their ex and a photo of a friend to the brain imaging lab. While inside the fMRI machine, they were shown images of their ex, their friend, and physical pain. Throughout the test, the subjects assessed their feelings, and the fMRI machine tracked changes in brain activity. Unsurprisingly, brain activity looked the same when the subjects felt emotional or physical pain. So the pain you are feeling now is real.
Subjects were then given a saline nasal spray. Half were told that it was a new drug that would help reduce emotional pain, and the other half were told that it was just saline. After taking the same tests again, the researchers found that the placebo group experienced less physical and emotional pain. In addition, participants in the placebo group showed greater activity in areas of the brain associated with modulating emotions and overcoming pain. Thor Wager, professor of psychology and neuroscience and senior author of the study, explains :
“The current view is that you have positive expectations and that they affect activity in your prefrontal cortex, which in turn affects systems in your midbrain, triggering neurochemical opioid or dopamine responses …”
Basically, you believe that you are doing something that will make you feel better, so the brain reacts and releases happy, pain-relieving chemicals. Studies in the past have shown similar evidence that placebos can relieve pain and other physical ailments, but this study first tested placebo in people experiencing emotional pain due to “romantic rejection.”
It may seem silly to give yourself “fake medicine” – be it good food, a loss in a video game or TV show, a pint of ice cream, songwriting, vacation, shopping, or a night out with friends – but the post-breakup period can be dangerous. The researchers warn that this kind of social pain increases the likelihood of developing depression in the next year 20 times, so it’s important to reduce the intensity of this pain. Do something for yourself that you know will make you feel better and give you hope. If you believe that it will help you get through grief, then it is quite possible.