Feeling heartbroken from a recent breakup? Just believing you’re doing something to help yourself get over your ex can influence brain regions associated with emotional regulation and lessen the perception of pain.
That’s the takeaway from a new CU Boulder study that measured the neurological and behavioral impacts the placebo effect had on a group of recently broken-hearted volunteers.
“Breaking up with a partner is one of the most emotionally negative experiences a person can have, and it can be an important trigger for developing psychological problems,” said first author and postdoctoral research associate Leonie Koban, noting that such social pain is associated with a 20-fold higher risk of developing depression in the coming year. “In our study, we found a placebo can have quite strong effects on reducing the intensity of social pain.”
For decades, research has shown that placebos – sham treatments with no active ingredients – can measurably ease pain, Parkinson’s disease and other physical ailments.
The new study, published in March in the Journal of Neuroscience, is the first to measure placebos’ impact on emotional pain from romantic rejection.
Source & further reading:http://www.colorado.edu/today/2017/04/24/when-love-hurts-placebo-can-help
Journal article:http://www.jneurosci.org/content/early/2017/03/06/JNEUROSCI.2658-16.2017
Source: Corina Marinescu
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