Everyone knows that when we end a relationship we experiment different emotional and habit changes that can make us think that living through a breakup might as well be impossible.
Reactions in brain cells which are stimulated during a love phase are so strong that it can be compared to the desire generated by the use of recreational drugs like cocaine.
Recent investigations carried out by the Albert Einstein's College of Medicine point out that when a person is abandoned by their significant other, the feelings of loss and pain can be so great that they can cause clinical depression, and in very extreme cases, suicides and homicides. However, despite it being very difficult to go through a breakup, it's not impossible.
University of Michigan researchers revealed a study that says that we all have a "natural painkiller" for rejection and heartbreak. According to the research published in Molecular Psychiatry magazine, quoted by Mexican website Sin Embargo, the human brain is capable of producing opioids to emotionally alleviate people that have been rejected sentimentally.
The "natural analgesic system" discovered by the Michigan scientists was identified after a group of researchers carried out a study in which 18 people were shown hundreds of images of people of the opposite sex and were then asked to choose those who they thought were attractive.
Then, the scientists examined participants through a positron emission tomography, while telling the participants that the people they had chosen rejected them.
The experiment revealed that the volunteers, despite knowing that the "rejection" was fictitious, were not able to avoid experiencing negative emotions that were registered by the tomography.
Better Adaptation To Environmental Changes
The experiment's results revealed that the brains of participants with better emotional stability produce more opioids that serve as "painkillers" against rejection. On the other hand, researchers discovered that this process also occurs in the opposite case, when people discover that the interest towards the other person is reciprocated.
Sin Embargo notes that the University of Michigan researchers discovered that the people who released greater quantities of opioids also had higher scores in a personality trait called "resilience", which determines the ability to adapt to environmental changes.
"The people with a higher score in resilience in a personality test tended to release a higher number of opioids during social rejection, mainly in the amygdala", a scientist said. "This suggests that the release of opioids in this structure, during social rejection, could be for protection or adaptation", he added.
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