Nursing a broken heart? Well, it seems a simple science-approved trick can help you to deal with the situation better and eventually move on from an ugly break-up. A study published in the Journal of Neuroscience suggests that ‘placebo effect’ can help to reduce the pain of a romantic rejection. In simpler words, just believing that you are doing something to get over your ex-partner can help to deal better with your emotions and reduce the pain.
The study
The researchers at the University of Colorado, Boulder conducted a series of experiment on 40 volunteers who had an ‘unwanted romantic break-up’ in the past six months.
The procedure
These participants were shown the photograph of their ex-lover, a good friend of the same gender as their ex and were also subjected to physical pain and meanwhile, their brain activity was scanned using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine.
The pain is real!
The researchers found out that the similar areas of an individual’s brain lit up when subjected to physical and emotional pain. “Know that your pain is real – neurochemically real,” shared Tor Wager, one of the authors of the study.
The next step
Next, the participants were taken out of the machine and given a nasal spray. Interestingly, half of them were told that it was a “powerful analgesic effective in reducing emotional pain”, and the rest were informed it was a simple saline solution.
The finding
When the brain activity of these participants was tracked again, the individuals in placebo group (that was told to be given a powerful analgesic) reported feeling less physical pain and emotionally better.
The simple trick to move on from a break-up
Therefore, the scientists suggested that doing something that makes you believe you are feeling better will actually help you to feel better.
What the researcher says
“Just the fact that you are doing something for yourself and engaging in something that gives you hope may have an impact. In some cases, the actual chemical in the drug may matter less than we once thought,” shared Tor Wager, one of the authors of the study. Also, previous studies done on this subject have indicated that placebo not only helps to ease depression but can even make the antidepressants work better. Perhaps, it’s your thought-process, and not a medicine, that can help you to move on from an ugly break-up.
