Brains Release Painkillers During Social Rejection: How We Cope with Pain

It turns out that our brains may have a way to cope with teasing. Scientists have discovered that when we experience social rejection, our brain's natural painkiller system actually responds. The findings reveal that it's not only physical injury that makes our bodies respond.

In order to better investigate the way people cope with rejection, the researchers combined advanced brain scanning that can track chemical release in the brain with a model of social rejection based on online dating. More specifically, they focused on the mu-opioid receptor system in the brain--the same system that the team has studied for years in response to physical pain. When a person feels physical pain, their brains release chemicals called opiods.

During the course of the study, the scientists asked 18 adults to view photos and fictitious personal profiles of hundreds of other adults. Each selected some who they might be most interested in romantically. Then, while the participants were lying in the brain imaging machine, they were informed that the individuals they found attractive and interesting were not interested in them.

In the end, the researchers found both an emotional and opioid response to this social "rejection." That's not all, though. The scientists also discovered that the underlying personality of the participants appeared to play a role in how much of a response their opioid systems made.

"Individuals who scored high for the resiliency trait on a personality questionnaire tended to be capable of more opioid release during social rejection, especially in the amygdala," said Hsu, one of the researchers, in a news release. "This suggests that opioid release in this structure during social rejection may be protective or adaptive."

The findings reveal a little bit more about how people deal with social rejection. More specifically, it shows that there's an actual physical response in our brains when we experience rejection. The findings could help scientists develop better treatments for both depression and social anxiety.

The findings are published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.