A Broken Heart Really Does Hurt, Scientists Claim

Death Metal writes "Psychologists at the University of California, Los Angeles say the human body has a gene that connects physical pain sensitivity with social pain sensitivity. The findings back the common theory that rejection 'hurts' by showing that a gene regulating the body's most potent painkillers — mu-opioids — is involved in socially painful experiences too."

Re:Painkillers?

[BiggerIsBetter]

Pain killers like the kind your brain gives you when you get laid would work better. Seriously, go have some meaningless sex - it WILL help.

Re:Painkillers?

[wgoodman]

Some of us actually don't really go for the meaningless sex all that much.. i've given it a go, but i'd much rather actually feel something for the person i'm giving it to..

Sounds like they isolated the "whiner" gene.

[znerk]

The article seems to state that those who reported higher levels of physical pain also reported more easily feeling rejected in a social situation. Therefore, it stands to reason (at least to me) that they have isolated the gene which causes people to complain, rather than any link between physical pain and emotional distress.

Yeah, I know, what kind of slashdotter am I, if I actually RTFA?

Thanks Slashdot.

[Goalie_Ca]

I just got home. It's 3:30 am. I missed my bus. I cockblocked her "ex" or whatever he is all the way to the bedroom door. Had a brief chat (clenched fist ready to pound the shit out of him) but really it was both of them and not him alone. I need to be able to trust her too! I walked the fuck out at first swearing like a mother fucker in my best québécois i know all the way down broadway street vancouver. I finally calmed down enough to feel the pain. It really hurt. I turn on my computer to try and calm down (can't sleep in this state) and wtf do I see? A study that says i feel pain right now. Well duh! I physically feel pain and my gut is wrapped up like a turban.

Re:As for me

[buck-yar]

Yeah me too. Found out my problem was not enough exercise. I've hit the workouts harder than I ever have in my life and its minimized the emotional pain. I just feel better in general.

Google Shaun T's Insanity workout. Guaranteed you cannot do it without 10 breaks.

Re:Painkillers?

[elbobo]

Those are the two things I applied a year ago (and am still applying) to get over a broken heart. I left my country, started travelling and kept travelling, and have shagged lots of different lovely girls along the way. It really works. And I've met some great people.

Re:isn't this obvious?

[Cylix]

That's nothing...

I've had my intestines removed and used as a personal restraining device. All of my toes and fingers removed and subsequently re-attached to one hand. Said hand was than forcefully punched into my own face with some guy shouting, "Stop hitting yourself" over and over. After that was over I had my abdomen sliced open by a light saber and some Jedi Knight used my womb to shelter from the cold for hours.

A broken heart? I really do miss that Jedi

Re:Painkillers?

[Hurricane78]

No, those work at the wrong place. The ones you'd need are the substances is the most hard drugs (which are also in most hard pain killers, with just one molecule changed a tiny bit).

Unfortunately they are both addictive as hell, and will make your life even worse. ;)

I wonder though, why nobody invented the inverse drug. Something that makes you feel like crap, but if you stop taking it, you will feel really really good, and with some time, you will have "irreparable damage" with being unable to feel very bad anymore.

Now that would be a twist, wouldn't it? ^^

Re:Painkillers?

[girlintraining]

What's missing is the reciprocated love, but casual sex takes that pain away. It's a medicine, not a replacement.

It's still like eating three snickers bars in a row. It doesn't take away the pain, it just covers it up for a few minutes until you realize you're still hungry for something and go for the next bad coping mechanism on the list.

...but it fills the hole and takes the suffering away. It's the medicine that heals.

Having meaningless sex doesn't heal, it just obscures the real problem -- meaningless sex isn't real different from masturbation.

And please, don't condescend to me. You're way out of your depth here. You clearly do not understand how men work. We're built fundamentally differently from girls when it comes to emotions. What the emotional world looks like to you has no relation to how it is for guys.

I should apologize for advising people to build mutually empowering and beneficial long-term relationships instead of one night stands? I do have a good grasp on what the "emotional world" of the average guy looks like -- it's mostly a desolate wasteland of drinking buddies, hobbies that long ago lost their luster, and filled with cliched advice from so-called friends and coworkers. They're lucky if they've got that one guy-friend who they can be vulnerable to and trust not to rake their masculinity over the coals for doing so. The end result? When a man's heart breaks, it's not the quiet little death that us girls experience -- it's a suicidal plunge into darkness that takes years, sometimes decades, to repair. I've seen too many nice guys fall apart in the worst ways possible from a broken heart and never fully heal from it... and it's because of crap like what you're saying -- they try for years and years to fill that hole with sex, but it doesn't work and they feel miserable and long for a girl that'll respect and cherish them... But by the time they realize that, every woman in his life has run away for fear of being turned into a sex object. It's a stupid cycle of self-harm.