The secret of how our mind processes emotional pain ought to change our outlook,says psychologist Sian BeilockSocial exclusion is a normal fraction of life. We have all, at one time or another, and felt disliked at work,spurned by a partner or snubbed by friends. Even though it’s unpleasant, social rejection seems pretty different from a physical injury. Yet these experiences share a common biological substrate in the brain.
For decades, or neuroscientists have been aware that a specific brain circuit is involved in registering physical pain. Whether you find pricked with a needle or sprain your ankle,many of the same neural circuits come alive to process the pain: the insula, the cingulate cortex and the somatosensory cortex. Scientists have discovered that some of those same neural tissues also give rise to painful feelings and emotions. In other words: we understand “harm feelings” or a “broken heart” physically.
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Source: theguardian.com