From Robert Emery and Jim Coan, professors at my alma mater, the University of Virginia, answering a reader’s question.
By Robert Emery and Jim Coan
When people have their feelings hurt, what is actually happening inside the body to cause the physical pain in the chest?
—Josh Ceddia, Melbourne, AustraliaRobert Emery and Jim Coan, professors of psychology at the University of Virginia, reply:
terms such as “heartache” and “gut wrenching” are more than mere metaphors: they describe the experience of both physical and emotional pain. When we feel heartache, for example, we are experiencing a blend of emotional stress and the stress-induced sensations in our chest—muscle tightness, increased heart rate, abnormal stomach activity and shortness of breath. In fact, emotional pain involves the same brain regions as physical pain, suggesting the two are inextricably connected.
But how do emotions trigger physical sensations? Scientists do not know, but recently pain researchers uncovered a possible pathway from mind to body. According to a 2009 study from the University of Arizona and the University of Maryland, activity in a brain region that regulates emotional reactions called the anterior cingulate cortex helps to explain how an emotional insult can trigger a biological cascade. During a particularly stressful experience, the anterior cingulate cortex may respond by increasing the activity of the vagus nerve—the nerve that starts in the brain stem and connects to the neck, chest and abdomen. When the vagus nerve is overstimulated, it can cause pain and nausea.
Click HERE to continue reading this article at Scientific American.com.
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‘…but recently pain researchers uncovered a possible pathway from mind to body…’ – I thought the mind was the body? I honestly thought that my brain was made of physical material and that it resided inside my physical skull, doing physical things with the rest of my body. Have I been wrong all these years?
One researcher, Jeffrey Schwartz, has an eloquent way of defining “brain” vs. “mind,” in this video of less than one minute. I hope that helps in thinking about a “pathway from mind to body.”
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