Brain reaction to social rejection similar to physical pain, study says

By Staff Writer

A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals that physical pain and social rejection have a similar effect on humans.

The research is based on an examination of 40 people who experienced an unwanted romantic break-up within the past six months. Participants completed two tasks - one related to their feelings of rejection and the other measured sensations of physical pain.

Volunteers viewed either a photo of their ex-partner or a friend during the rejection task. During the physical pain task, a device delivered a stimulation that was equivalent to holding a very hot cup of coffee. On other trials, the device produced a non-painful, warm stimulation.

Each participant underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans during the experiments. They compared these results with 500 previous fMRI studies of brain responses to physical and emotional pain.

Researchers found that inducing feelings of social rejection activate the same regions of the brain that are involved in physical pain sensation, which are the secondary somatosensory cortex and the dorsal posterior insula. This is the first study to establish a neural overlap between these regions.

Adolescents who have experienced pain from neglect or emotional rejection may benefit from boarding schools, which aim to provide support for troubled teens.