Photos Can Give Pain Relief

Most of us would say it’s common sense that our loved one or pet will reduce the pain we are in. They can talk to us, give us compassion, distract us from pain & more. But a new study has some surprising results!

You don’t actually need the person there! In fact, a photo of your loved one may bring you more comfort than the person being there holding your h&!

Scientists at the University of California at Los Angeles applied pain (heat), to the forearms of 28 women who had all been in relationships for at least six months.

Each woman had the heat/pain applied while:

• holding the h& of their partner who was sitting behind a curtain;
• holding the h& of a stranger sitting behind a curtain;
• holding a squeeze ball; viewing a photo of their partner;
• viewing a photo of a male stranger;
• viewing the letter x, which was meant to be a neutral image

Then they then rated the level of pain they felt in each circumstance.

The study found that the most powerful pain reducer turned out to be the picture of their significant other. And that “images of their romantic partners lowered levels of pain even more than holding their h&s. ”

Related articles by Zemanta

• A Loved One’s Photo Helps Reduce Your Pain (psychcentral.com)