So he’s dumped you.
The usual drill is obviously to cry, cry some more, watch some crappy films and eat some chocolate. Then bitch to your friends about his stupid hair, his horrible habits, that horrible thing he said and how the hell he could be seeing someone else literally a day after it ended. Well, you have to exorcise the demons.
But one scientist is basically now saying you shouldn’t do that. He’s saying you should take two aspirin and shut the hell up.
Psychology Professor Mischel of University reckons that having a good old bitchfest will just make things worse.
He prescribes two aspirin for your broken heart, saying psychological pain is akin to physical pain and should be treated like a broken leg.
Professor Mischel said: ‘”Take two aspirins and call me in the morning”’ would be a cold-hearted response to a friend’s late-night report of fresh heartbreak, but it has a solid basis in the research.’
Anyone who’s been dumped will know that ‘thumped-in-the-chest’ feeling and now here’s the science to back it up.
‘When we speak about rejection experiences in terms of physical pain, it is not just a metaphor – the broken heart and emotional pain really do hurt in a physical way,’ says Professor Mischel.
As for talking it out over and over with your mates, the advice seems to be put down the icecream and go do something else, stat.
Professor Mischel said: ‘Common wisdom suggests that if we thoroughly revisit our negative experiences to try to understand why they happened, we’ll eventually be able to move on.
‘However, new research is showing that some people only get worse by continuing to brood and ruminate.
‘Each time they recount the experience to themselves, their friends or their therapist, they only become more depressed.
‘Self-distancing, in contrast, allows them to get a more objective view, without reactivating their pain, and helps them get past the experience.’
By the sounds of it, he’d also be totally against you Facebook stalking your ex too.
He said: ‘When you look at a picture of the one who broke your heart, you experience a pain in a similar area of the brain which is activated when you burn your arm.’
So yeah. Man up. Or just ignore it all and add him to your bitch list.
POLL
8
3 comments
Interesting... I'd like to read the paper, and see whether the research has been replicated
One of the things I quickly proved, while appointed as
a professor of mathematics (2000-2006), was this:
"Being a member of the class of bona fide "Professors" does not
preclude that you are not a member of the class of real "Assholes".
Having to share office space, as a grad student, with The Psychos
(psych. dept.) lead to some disillusioning experiences with them.
Your list of responses is not a spanning set of possible outcomes.
This is my vote --- a 'write-in'.