According to medicalnewstoday.com heartbreaks can cause real physical pain even if there is no injury on a person’s body. When thinking about break ups, there is a part of the brain that activates physical pain, which adds to emotional distress and depression that a person usually feels along with a break up. Edward E. Smith did a study on forty people from New York City who felt “intensely rejected”. They were told to look at pictures of their friends and think positive thoughts. Then they were told to look at pictures of their exes and think of their breakup. The participants brains were scanned while they viewed pictures of their friends and exes. They also underwent brain scans of the participants comparing forearm pain to the feeling of holding a hot cup of coffee. The researchers found that several of the “same areas of the brain became active when participants felt either physical pain or emotional pain” (Love Study: Brain Reacts To Heartbreak Same As Physical Pain).
The physical pain that people feel from heartbreaks is how their bodies react to their emotions. Depression that is caused by heartbreaks make people feel not themselves, causing them to feel dull and not living life with a positive and upbeat manner. This can causes physical illness and pain. When people feel loss and rejection, the anterior cingulate cortex becomes active, triggering physical pain and distress.
Symptoms of heartbreak include “loss of appetite, insomnia, headaches, stomachaches, nausea, a ton of tears, occasional nightmares, alcohol/substance abuse, depression, eating disorders, panic attacks, loss of interest, fatigue, loneliness and hopelessness” (Ashley Cox).
Researchers concluded that feeling of rejection is similar to physical pain. If you are experiencing emotional pain, click here for tips on how to help get through it.
Heartbreaks affect people differently; some either people go through a very rough time or get over it quickly. What people feel can be because genetics, what chemicals the brain releases, and what areas of the brain are activated.
Sources:
http://www.science20.com/variety_tap/science_behind_heartbreak-33900
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/220427.php
http://malecodependence.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/heartachequotes425crop.jpg
Heart break is oh so common, especially with our age group. I’ve heard stories about heart break physically hurting people, but I didn’t believe it! Ethan Kross, a psychologist from the University of Michigan did a study on 40 people who have had their “heart broken” in the last six months. These people were shown pictures of their ex significant other and were asked to talk about how the break up made them feel while getting an MRI. “We found that the intense experience of social rejection activates regions of the brain that are involved in the sensory experience of physical pain” said Kross. I love this post! I’m sure most of us can all relate to it.
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/wellness/story/2011/03/Heartbreak-hurts-people-physically-too/45443040/1
I found your post really interesting since it is really common. After reading your post I was wondering if people could actually die of a broken heart.. I did some research and I found that there is a syndrome called “broken heart syndrome” or “stress-induced cardiomyopathy”. Women are definitely more likely than men to experience this pain.
Broken heart syndrome is really similar to heart attack because the symptoms and test results are similar. But unlike a heart attack, there’s no evidence of blocked heart arteries in this syndrome.
The bad news is that the Broken heart syndrome can lead to “severe, short-term heart muscle failure”. But the good news is that it is curable.
Good post!
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/More/Cardiomyopathy/Is-Broken-Heart-Syndrome-Real_UCM_448547_Article.jsp
This would be a great experiment if more people were studied. This experiment can rule out reverse causation because depression does not cause the heart ache (it may cause the breakup which causes the heartache) but they are not measuring enough. What if pictures of exes brought happiness and positive thoughts because of memories or the fact that you are better without that person. Ultimately more needs to be done to make this experiment better and maybe then a verdict could be reached.