New Research Finds The Hurt Of Heartbreak Can Be Fixed With Placebo Effect | HuffPost Canada

I don't normally share anything from HuffPost. But in a world where even a broken clock is right twice a day, I think you should acknowledge when a company actually does its job and maybe they will think of creating more valuable content if they get more views and backlinks for their "good" articles.

Results showed that although not identical, the brain regions activated during physical and emotional pain were similar, which senior author Tor Wager believes sends an important message to the broken-hearted: "Know that your pain is real — neuro-chemically real."

This is nothing new. We have seen similar studies all over the place including ones related to cognitive dissonance. Then things get a it more interesting:

Outside of the fMRI machines participants received a nasal spray, with half being told that it was a "powerful analgesic effective in reducing emotional pain," and the other half that it was a simple saline solution. Not only did the placebo group, who believed the spray would ease heartache, feel less physical and emotional pain, but their brains actually responded differently when shown the photo of an ex.

The team found that activity in the brain's dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, an area involved with modulating emotions, increased sharply, while areas across the brain associated with rejection showed less activity.

You Can Believe Yourself Into Suffering or You Can Believe Yourself Into Happiness

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