The pain of social disconnection: examining the shared neural underpinnings of physical and social pain

Abstract

Experiences of social rejection, exclusion or loss are generally considered to be some of the most 'painful' experiences that we endure. Indeed, many of us go to great lengths to avoid situations that may engender these experiences (such as public speaking). Why is it that these negative social experiences have such a profound effect on our emotional well-being? Emerging evidence suggests that experiences of social pain--the painful feelings associated with social disconnection--rely on some of the same neurobiological substrates that underlie experiences of physical pain. Understanding the ways in which physical and social pain overlap may provide new insights into the surprising relationship between these two types of experiences.

Childhood Maltreatment and Coping in Bipolar Disorder

“…In line, a recent meta-analysis suggested that activation in these regions during social exclusion might be related with enhanced social uncertainty, social distress, and social rumination [15]. Activation in the dorsal ACC/mPFC and Insula have been related to self-reported distress during exclusion in the Cyberball game, however, not all studies found dorsal ACC/mPFC responsivity to social exclusion [14,15,19,20], or only found it in the first trials of the exclusion game [11]. Furthermore, studies investigating adolescents and children found ventral ACC/mPFC responses to distress during social exclusion [11,[21][22][23].…”

“…Neuroimaging studies have revealed a set of brain regions that are typically activated during social exclusion in the Cyberball task, primarily in cortical midline structures; the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)/medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and Insula [14,15]. The ACC and mPFC are vital for expectancy-violation, error-detection, the processing of cognitive conflict, and self-and other referential processing [16][17][18].…”

“…We compared young adult patients reporting a moderate to extreme history of CEM (N = 26) with healthy controls (N = 20) reporting low to moderate CEM. We examined whole brain responses while specifying the mPFC, ACC and Insula as regions of interest (ROIs) because of their important role in social exclusion [14,15]. We hypothesized that individuals reporting a history of CEM would show enhanced brain responses and emotional distress to social exclusion.…”

An fMRI-Based Neural Signature of Decisions to Smoke Cannabis

“…Although brain regions implicated in decision making about nondrug reinforcers contributed to the neural signature we observed, pattern classification approaches may be able to detect subtle differences in neural processes underlying drug-vs nondrug decision making, as was the case for physical and social pain, which also recruit overlapping circuitry (Eisenberger, 2012). Another important direction will be assessment of the effects of pharmacological and psychological interventions on the brain-based classifier.…”

Caracterização do desempenho ocupacional de mulheres portadoras de dor pélvica crônica

“…As atividades discriminadas são relevantes para preencher possíveis lacunas do quanto a DPC interfere nas grandes áreas ocupacionais dessas mulheres e com base nessa discussão anterior, observa-se o comportamento dessas mulheres e aqui fazemos uma comparação ao comportamento de indivíduos com dores crônicas que estão frequentemente associados a isolamento social (Strand et al, 2015), os laços sociais são importantes para a evolução humana e evidencias sugerem que são importantes para a saúde (Cacioppo e Cacioppo, 2014), em estudo recente em nossa equipe com mulheres com DPC e endometriose sugere a presença de isolamento social nos relatos da entrevista (Mellado, 2015) atividades físicas e mantendo uma rotina de suas atividades diárias mínimas, uso de medicamentos, descanso, uso de calor para alívio de dor e ajuda de terceiros (Michaëlis, Kristiansen e Norredam, 2015); e dor social, (Eisenberger, 2012), que pode ser definida como uma experiência desagradável que é associada a um dano real ou potencial para a interação social ou valor social (devido à rejeição social, a exclusão, a avaliação social negativa do individuo ou perda), a dor social vem sendo estudada cada vez mais, é comparada a dor física devido ser representada pela mesma região cerebral, sabe-se que ambos os tipos de dor são angustiantes e os indivíduos apresentam várias emoções parecidas (medo, tristeza, raiva, ansiedade e vergonha) (Kross et al, 2011). A dor crônica acarreta no individuo comportamentos que muitas vezes indivíduos que não estão passando pela mesma dificuldade ou não entendem a situação de cronicidade do doente acabam se afastando, reforçando ainda mais o isolamento que o próprio individuo iniciou, acarretando em um isolamento social (Marquez, 2011;Michaëlis, Kristiansen e Norredam, 2015).…”