Social support and pain (in women)
Lance
from the song "The Very Thought of You" by Ray Noble. Can the mere
thought of your loved one reduce your pain?
Yes, according to a new study by UCLA psychologists that underscores
the importance of social relationships and staying socially
connected.
The study, which asked whether simply looking at a photograph of your
significant other can reduce pain, involved 25 women, mostly UCLA
students, who had boyfriends with whom they had been in a good
relationship for more than six months.
The women received moderately painful heat stimuli to their forearms
while they went through a number of different conditions. In one set
of conditions, they viewed photographs of their boyfriend, a stranger
and a chair.
"When the women were just looking at pictures of their partner, they
actually reported less pain to the heat stimuli than when they were
looking at pictures of an object or pictures of a stranger," said
study co-author Naomi Eisenberger, assistant professor of psychology
and director of UCLA's Social and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory.
"Thus, the mere reminder of one's partner through a simple photograph
was capable of reducing pain."
"This changes our notion of how social support influences people," she
added. "Typically, we think that in order for social support to make
us feel good, it has to be the kind of support that is very responsive
to our emotional needs. Here, however, we are seeing that just a photo
of one's significant other can have the same effect."
In another set of conditions, each woman held the hand of her
boyfriend, the hand of a male stranger and a squeeze ball. The study
found that when women were holding their boyfriends' hands, they
reported less physical pain than when they were holding a stranger's
hand or a ball while receiving the same amount of heat stimulation.
"This study demonstrates how much of an impact our social ties can
have on our experience and fits with other work emphasizing the
importance of social support for physical and mental health,"
Eisenberger said.
One practical piece of advice the authors give is that the next time
you are going through a stressful or painful experience, if you cannot
bring a loved one with you, a photo may do.
The study appears in the November 2009 issue of the journal
Psychological Science.
Source: University of California - Los Angeles
http://www.physorg.com/news177344980.html