University of Colorado Neuroscience Blog

Those of us in dating in high school in the late 80′s can attest to the stinging truth revealed in Def Leppard's song, "Love Bites" shortly after a nasty break-up. But it was only recently that scientists employing state-of-the-art brain imaging fMRI technology have been able to view the similarities between the biting pain of rejection from a lover and physical pain.

A study (http://www.pnas.org/content/108/15/6270) published in the April 12 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) has provided the most direct evidence showing a common brain circuit underlying the pain of rejection and physical pain.

In their study, the researchers at Columbia University, University of Michigan and University of Colorado, Boulder studied 40 subjects who had experienced rejection and break-up with a lover within the past six months. They tested each subject on two tasks, a social rejection task and a physical pain task, while imaging their brains.

In the scanner, subjects looked at the faces of their ex and thought about how it felt during their split and a snapshot of their brain was taken. Next they were shown a headshot of a friend of the same sex as their former partner and thought about a recent positive experience they shared. This provided the social rejection condition.

To compare the social rejection experience to the experience of "physical pain" they attached a thermal device to the volunteers' forearms and set it to produced a "painful", but not harmful level.

In both men and women, rejection and painful heat activated brain circuits underlying distress (e.g. Anterior Cingulate cortex) and the sensation of pain e.g. somatosensory cortex).

Although this seems seems intuitive from centuries of poetry, tragic plays and lyrics, knowledge at a mechanistic level showing the same circuits are activated gives scientists new ways to deal with both. It makes one wonder if taking pain-killers shortly after a break-up might be a treatment option.

The common mechanism between social rejection and physical pain may be one reason why heroin and alcohol, both analgesics for pain, are irresistible amongst country and grunge musicians whose melodic ruminations center on tragedy, angst and painful relationships. Kurt Cobain comes to mind when he said, "Thank you for the tragedy. I need it for my art."

Last year the British pop group ironically named, "The Wanted", brilliantly connected the idea that pain from being unwanted/rejected and searing physical pain were one and the same in their popular song "Lose My Mind". Here are the lyrics and the video (http://youtu.be/lv2CDjyPRkg)

They say that time
Heals everything
But they don't know you
And the scars you bring

'Cos you left a jagged hole
And I can't stand it anymore

If heartache was a physical pain
I could face it I could face it
But you're hurting me
From inside of my head
I can't take it I can't take it

I'm gonna lose my mind
I'm gonna lose my mind

I'd erase my thoughts
If only I knew how
Fill my head with white noise
If it would drown you out
Kill the sound

If heartache was a physical pain
I could face it I could face it

But you're hurting me
From inside of my head
I can't take it I can't take it

I'm gonna lose my mind
I'm gonna lose my mind

And I'd rather be crazy
I'd rather go insane
Than having you stalk
My every thought
Then having you here inside my heart

If heartache was a physical pain
I could face it I could face it
But you're hurting me
From inside of my head
I can't take it I can?t take it

I'm gonna lose my mind
I'm gonna lose my mind