"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me," goes the playground rhyme that's supposed to help children endure taunts from classmates. But a new study suggests that there's more going on inside our brains when someone snubs us – and that the brain may have its own way of easing social pain.
"The findings, recently published in Molecular Psychiatry by a University of Michigan Medical School team, show that the brain's natural painkiller system responds to social rejection – not just physical injury.
"What's more, people who score high on a personality trait called resilience – the ability to adjust to environmental change – had the highest amount of natural painkiller activation....
"If nothing else, perhaps knowing that our response to a social snub isn't "all in our heads" can help some people understand their responses and cope better, Hsu says. "The knowledge that there are chemicals in our brains working to help us feel better after being rejected is comforting."
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-10-stones-brain-natural-painkillers-social.html
Hsu, et al. (2013). "Response of the μ-opioid system to social rejection and acceptance." Molecular Psychiatry. Abstract.
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