Social Pain

edge.org

4 pointstbrownaw1 comment

What we found is that the people who were taking acetaminophen reported less hurt feelings than people who were taking placebo, and they showed less pain related activity to social exclusion, just as a function of taking acetaminophen. We see this crossover effect in some ways, that this agent, which known to reduce physical pain, also seems to affect social pain.

The first thing that comes to mind is, will this help with social anxiety, fear of public speaking, that sort of thing. Do painkillers help with fear / expectation of pain, or only actual pain?

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There's also a bit at the end that touches on our current holy war (gender effects), but from personal observation rather than the research that the main part of the article is about.

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