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A Broken Heart Really Does Hurt, Scientists Claim

Posted by samzenpus on from the bruised-on-the-inside dept.

Death Metal writes "Psychologists at the University of California, Los Angeles say the human body has a gene that connects physical pain sensitivity with social pain sensitivity. The findings back the common theory that rejection 'hurts' by showing that a gene regulating the body's most potent painkillers — mu-opioids — is involved in socially painful experiences too."

61 of 220 comments (clear)

  1. Re:slashdoters by PeterBrett · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Some more than others, unfortunately.

    --
    Pirate Party UK
  2. Feel No Pain by DirtyCanuck · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Individuals with the rare form of the pain gene, who were shown in previous work to be more sensitive to physical pain"

    Isolate and manipulate.

    Do The Evolution ;)

    1. Re:Feel No Pain by girlintraining · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Do The Evolution ;)

      You idiot... If you can't feel pain you can't learn. Adversity breeds character, but it also breeds common sense. People who can't feel pain have to be very careful because they won't know they're hurting themselves -- they will happily hold on to a burning-hot sauce pan and have no idea that in the process of making eggs they've just caused 3rd degree burns on their hand.

      Besides, if you ever want to see the kind of damage not being able to feel pain can do -- go visit the hospital and head up to the department labeled "Chemical Dependency". You'll have a hundred new reasons to treasure your pain receptors after that...

      --
      #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    2. Re:Feel No Pain by Fred_A · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I remember reading somewhere that people who can't feel pain, generally don't live past their 20's. Something almost always ends up killing them without them knowing.

      Which, as an aside, is why I've always been puzzled by the various claims that "fish (or insert your critter here) don't feel pain" (usually claimed by anglers so they can stick various pointy things through the animal's jaws) since it's such an essential evolutionary trait. It's more than likely that pretty much anything that has a reasonably complex nervous system can feel pain, including insects.

      --

      May contain traces of nut.
      Made from the freshest electrons.
    3. Re:Feel No Pain by RockDoctor · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If you can't feel pain you can't learn.

      Your evidence for this assertion is ...?

      Adversity breeds character,

      Your evidence for this assertion is ...? (having had to deal with a lot of the "adversity is character-building" retarded sadists over the years, I'm more of the opinion that adverse circumstances may discover or reveal innate character (sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse), but doesn't "build" or "develop" it (whatever those mean). While I'm a great fan of active, outdoor hobbies, I never did swallow that "character-building" mouthful from a number of the proponents I've met, including teachers.)

      but it also breeds common sense.

      s/common sense/experience/ and you'd be correct, almost by definition. But does "common sense" equal "experience"? I think not, though I wouldn't dispute that "experience" is a substantial component of "common sense". I think that turning experience into a reasonable probability of avoiding similar problems in the future, or of managing them better, will also certainly require a reasonable working memory, as well as a degree of introspection. The latter is certainly lacking in some people, often the ones who go on about "use some common sense!", because it needs you to accept that you may personally be wrong.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
  3. They've discovered the Emo Gene! by StealthyRoid · · Score: 5, Funny

    Finally, parents can know ahead of time if their kids are destined to grow up into whiny little John Hughes emo assholes, and vacuum the little bitch out before they have to end up paying for 20 years worth of Hot Topic clothes.

    Up next, the Goth gene!

    1. Re:They've discovered the Emo Gene! by Drenaran · · Score: 3, Insightful

      What terrifies me is that I could easily see this form of child selection occurring. Remember how vain and cruel those girls from high school were? Well, guess what, those girls become the vain and cruel wives of rich men, placing them squarely in the realm of people who can afford to perform genetic screening on their kids and "weed out" "negative" traits.

    2. Re:They've discovered the Emo Gene! by derGoldstein · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Remember how vain and cruel those girls from high school were? Well, guess what, those girls become the vain and cruel wives of rich men

      That's anecdotal.

      But even if it were true, then those same wealthy individuals would already have spread their own nature (vanity, cruelty, etc.) through their genes, as well as their behavior around their children, and those children will be sent to private schools and placed on a course to MBA-ish jobs when they graduate. If you were fearing the "dicks in high places" syndrome, it's already been deployed.

      --
      Entomologically speaking, the spider is not a bug, it's a feature.
  4. isn't this obvious? by phantomfive · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I've been punched in the face, I've had torn muscles, I've stubbed my toe, I've hit my thumb with a hammer, and nothing has hurt as much as a broken heart. This seemed pretty obvious to me, but I am glad that researchers are paying attention to feelings, and figuring out what is there.

    --
    Qxe4
    1. Re:isn't this obvious? by Jafafa+Hots · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Shit... I've been hit by a pickup truck, had a shattered pelvis, fractured skull, internal injuries. Had to learn to walk again. Went through withdrawal from Demerol. Had a total bowel obstruction that required emergency surgery. Had a catheter removed without the little balloon being deflated first.
      Broke my arm four times. Had a barium enema (doesn't sound like much but those fuckers HURT)

      Those things took from days to months to repair and grow adequate scar tissue.

      Broken heart? Well, I think I'm pretty much over it now... and it's only been 25 years. (Well, I'm over when she's not around anyway...)

      --
      This space available.
    2. Re:isn't this obvious? by wgoodman · · Score: 5, Funny

      you're just trying to distract yourself from thinking about her.. i know the feeling :/

    3. Re:isn't this obvious? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Dude sounds like you're better off staying in the basement

    4. Re:isn't this obvious? by ijakings · · Score: 5, Funny

      No offense dude, but im pretty sure god is trying to kill you

    5. Re:isn't this obvious? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      No I'm not.

    6. Re:isn't this obvious? by Dan541 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Considering he once downed the entire world, I'd say he's no longer on top of his game.

      --
      An SQL query goes to a bar, walks up to a table and asks, "Mind if I join you?"
    7. Re:isn't this obvious? by Ihmhi · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Irony - A year later I saw her on campus and she wanted to know why I stopped calling. She claimed I had hurt her. As if rejecting me four times didn't hurt. (rolls eyes). A typical, socially-inept, clueless female nerd.

      That's not irony, that's an attention whore. Once you stop doting on them they'll come to you and try to get your hopes back up.

      --
      Random Thoughts From A Diseased Mind (Not For Dummies)
    8. Re:isn't this obvious? by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Funny

      Shit... I've been hit by a pickup truck, had a shattered pelvis, fractured skull...

      That's nothing. I've had my eyes plucked out by rabid bats. I've all my fingers broken, heal badly, and then broken again with a nutcracker. I've had my head chopped off and sewn back on backwards, only to have it done all over again after the lawsuit. I've had the skin on my penis peeled back like a banana with lasers and BBQ tongs.

      A broken heart? I don't get them, I give them.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    9. Re:isn't this obvious? by Cylix · · Score: 5, Interesting

      That's nothing...

      I've had my intestines removed and used as a personal restraining device. All of my toes and fingers removed and subsequently re-attached to one hand. Said hand was than forcefully punched into my own face with some guy shouting, "Stop hitting yourself" over and over. After that was over I had my abdomen sliced open by a light saber and some Jedi Knight used my womb to shelter from the cold for hours.

      A broken heart? I really do miss that Jedi

      --
      "You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." -- Yogi Berra
    10. Re:isn't this obvious? by speedtux · · Score: 2, Insightful

      A single date with no sex doesn't count as "treating men like toss-away toys, and not care". If you expect sex, love, or a relationship after one date and one kiss, there's something wrong with you, not with her. Maybe she isn't over her ex-boyfriend but would consider you once she is (in a year or two). Or maybe she is also going on dinner dates with other guys and hasn't made up her mind yet. Or maybe she likes you enough to have nice dinners with you but doesn't find you attractive enough to have sex with.

      Adults often go on good dates repeatedly without ending up with sex or a relationship. Adults even engage in "dating" and sexual innuendo for fun if there is no possibility of anything happening--it's called flirting. Adults do that because it's fun and because they have enough maturity to keep their emotions in check. If you can't deal with that, it's you who's a "socially inept, clueless nerd".

      And the gene they used for testing this idea generally increases pain sensitivity, not just emotional sensitivity--and most people lack it. You probably lack it too.

    11. Re:isn't this obvious? by commodore64_love · · Score: 5, Insightful

      >>>>>This study might explain why some women can treat men like toss-away toys, and not care.

      >They can't treat men like that, only whiny little pussies.

      Really? Well I know just such a woman. She married a guy, then she divorced him because she was flirting with guy #2. Then she married guy #2, but meanwhile she was flirting with guy #3, so divorced guy #2 about five years later. She married guy #3, but was flirting with guy #4, and then divorced guy #3.

      Three men. NONE of them were pussies, but she still managed to hurt all three of them with her actions, because she doesn't care about other person's feelings.

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
    12. Re:isn't this obvious? by mhajicek · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think it's more that some people simply haven't learned to empathize. Either that or they don't bother.

    13. Re:isn't this obvious? by Mister+Whirly · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Any man that chooses to be with a woman who is already either married/in a serious relationship when they start up should expect at some point it will happen again, with him getting dumped for the new flame. They may not have been "pussies" but they weren't being smart or didn't want a monogamous relationship. Cheaters aren't going to just up and change their behavior "just because it is you".

      --
      "But this one goes to 11!"
    14. Re:isn't this obvious? by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2, Funny

      Said hand was than forcefully punched into my own face with some guy shouting, "Stop hitting yourself" over and over.

      All right, all right, you win.

      Although I do at the moment have one of those paper cuts that you get along the inside edge of your index finger, the kind that hurt like hell when you get hot wings sauce on them. For all I know, it might get infected and then I'll need a shot.

      And let's not even get started on the emotional pain of all the Burnout Paradise races I lost at 5am this morning to sad and drunk Brits because that paper cut is on exactly the part of my finger that touches the L1 button on my PS3 controller.

      Also.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    15. Re:isn't this obvious? by budgenator · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Obviously you've never had a vampyric, somatic narcissistic woman sink her fangs into you. Bedroom skills have nothing to do with what makes them happy. what makes them happy is taking every social, psychological and financial resource you have for themselves, they feed off your pain.

      --
      Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
    16. Re:isn't this obvious? by ahabswhale · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Dude, this was just her incredibly lame way of saying she wanted to be friends/acquaintances and that's it without hurting your feelings. At best she would use you as a back up if her primary choice didn't work out but probably not. Anyway, most chicks realize that if they just flat out reject you then the chance of friendship is usually out the window.

      --
      Are agnostics skeptical of unicorns too?
    17. Re:isn't this obvious? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Hey, that's nothing....

      I had to wear a crown of thorns, be flogged by fucking Roman soldiers while hauling a heavy-ass hunk of lumber around, have my hands and feet attached to that lumber with goddamn (sorry, Dad) nails. Then, to add insult to injury, some Centurion decides to use me as a pin cushion and, finally, I'm buried alive. Sheesh. Talk about a tough three days...

    18. Re:isn't this obvious? by BorgCopyeditor · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You should listen to what people here are telling you about your misinterpretation of the situation (even the ones who seem to you to be being jerks about it). You might learn something.

      Here's a similar mind-bender: someone can like you and want to try moving ahead into some intimate contact, and your reaction to that can turn them right off. Being really uptight about the thing, showing that you're ready to be "hurt" if things don't go as you want, demanding explanations--all these sorts of actions on your part can change someone's mind about you. If you're not aware of how those actions can do that, it can seem to you that you've been led down the garden path and then rejected "inconsistently" or "cruelly."

      I don't presume that the woman you mention was not stringing you along, but even if she was, you are responsible for letting yourself be "hurt" by her. It's funny how little in human interactions can properly described as one person doing something to another; it takes two to do the dysfunctional tango.

      I wish you better luck next time you like someone. Better than luck, though, is knowledge and honesty with oneself. Hard stuff, but it makes life better all around.

      (P.S. Looking for explanations for your situation in speculation about genetic dispositions toward cruelty is not a step in the right direction.)

      --
      Shop as usual. And avoid panic buying.
    19. Re:isn't this obvious? by shiftless · · Score: 2

      When you start with the wrong premises, you draw the wrong conclusions. Your story is a classic example of a girl who does not understand women and thus draws the wrong conclusions. Let's take it from the top, shall we?

      I recall a girl in college. Really cute and a very smart Bio major. Also a sorority girl so I figured I had scored on all fronts - beauty, brains, and sexy.

      This is your first fuck up. You haven't scored until you've scored. What really happened: You got too enthusiastic and fixated on this one girl and you blew it.

      We went out on a date and it was fantastic, with the night ending with a passionate goodnight kiss.

      What really happened: you seemed cool at first so she agreed to go out on a date, but that's when things went wrong. She quickly figured out that you are insecure, clingy, boring, have bad breath, have no sense of fashion, or possess other negative qualities, and that ended her attraction for you. Passionate or not, the goodnight kiss was only out of politeness/lack of assertiveness, or because she felt pressured into it.

      BUT I could never get a followup. First she told me "no" because her ex-boyfriend was coming to visit the next weekend.

      When she has a boyfriend but doesn't mention him, that's a good sign. When she didn't mention the boyfriend to begin with and then brings him up after your first date as an excuse to not date you, that's when you know you fucked up. And once you've screwed yourself and put yourself into the friend zone, it's over. You're done.

      Talk about shock, surprise, and pain.

      Why would you feel shock, surprise, or pain to find out some random chick that you thought was interesting and barely know has a boyfriend? To me--and to her--and to anyone else who has a clue (i.e. most women)--that signals insecurity and clinginess. A secure male would not give a shit that she has a boyfriend since he knows he can give her what the boyfriend can't. Either that, or he would just find some other girl to date. Either way, at no point would shock, surprise, or pain enter into the equation.

      But I brushed it aside and thought, "Well he's 300 miles way - not a real threat," but she turned me down three more times over the next few months.

      What really happened here: You already totally fucked up your chances, but you kept trying and trying anyway, futher proving to this chick that you are clueless, desperate, and not boyfriend material.

      Eventually I said, "I just asked you out during Christmas break when we have two weeks of freedom from classes. And you said "no" you're busy. You say no every time I ask you out.

      Even though you had totally fucked up your chances long ago, you started off good here. You put her on the spot and made her account for her bullshit. Good move.

      If you don't want to go out, please tell me. I'll just stop....."

      But then you totally, royally fucked it up again.

      At that point she interrupted, "But I do what to go out with you Jim!" "Really?When?" ...and again....

      "I don't know. Maybe in February..." "That's two months from now!" ...and again.

      Normally you should have never even gotten to this low, desperate point. But for the sake of argument let's assume you did, and then suddenly had a flash of intuition as to how you should start handling things in order to get her interested in you again. The conversation would go like this:

      You: "Let's go out Saturday. I'll pick you up at 7."

      Her: "No I can't, [I gotta do my nails/iron my clothes/etc]."

      You: "You can put that off to some other day, can't you? I've asked you out several times over the past few months and you keep giving me excuses. I could go hang out with some other girl but I'd rather spend time with you. I'll be there at 7. See you then." *walks away*

      ^^^ You see what happened there? You were assertive. You didn't accept her bullshit and you didn't take no for answer.

    20. Re:isn't this obvious? by gr8dude · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Got a friend with a similar situation. The problem is that your expectations were too high, while her expectations were much lower than yours.

      It is like hugging everyone when you meet them - this decreases a "value" of a hug. To a non-hugger (i.e. someone who only hugs special people) being hugged by a hyper-hugger the situation is interpreted as "wow! I am hugged by this person, it means that something is going on". Of course, you get to see the big picture when you realize they hug everyone they see.

      For some people kisses are like that too.

      For some people, having sex is also a "common thing" which does not necessarily involve feelings, serious intentions and plans for the future.

      Therefore the only thing I can tell you is to learn not to rush things. Take your time and get to know the person. Yes, there are indeed "a lot of women like that in the world, who lack basic empathy for the pain they cause to men", but it doesn't mean that you don't have the power not to let them hurt you.

      --
      The saddest poem
    21. Re:isn't this obvious? by commodore64_love · · Score: 2, Informative

      This is where the word "vamp" comes from. It was invented in the 1920s and comes from the word "vampire" meaning a woman who sucks the life out of men. So next time you hear Entertainment Today or some other fashion show comment that an actress is "vamping it up" realizing they just insulted that actress. They probably don't mean to do it, but they just called her a vampire - a parasite off men.

      And no I doubt in my example all *3* men sucked in bed. Blame the gander not the goose.

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
    22. Re:isn't this obvious? by commodore64_love · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yep.

      Look for the single women, not the divorced or married ones.

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
    23. Re:isn't this obvious? by commodore64_love · · Score: 2, Insightful

      [editing fixed]

      YOU: "You can put that off to some other day, can't you? I've asked you out several times over the past few months and you keep giving me excuses. I could go hang out with some other girl but I'd rather spend time with you. I'll be there at 7. See you then." *walks away*

      ^^^ You see what happened there? You were assertive. You didn't accept her bullshit and you didn't take no for answer.

      Yeah but that approach is a one-way destination to eventual divorce. No woman (or man) wants to be married to a jerk that bosses her around like that. Yes I'm sure that approach succeeds in getting some wet-behind-the-knees girl into your bed, maybe even engaged for marriage, but you can't build a lifetime relationship on that "Me Man; Me tell you want to do" method. You only setup longterm failure.

      That doesn't mean your advice is total trash. At one point I did mention another date I had with one of her sorority sisters, but I wasn't a jerk about it. I just said, "Sarah and I went out for dinner last week. She seems nice. So what's new with you?" It has the same effect as what you advise, making her realize she's not the only woman in my life, but without being a dick.

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
  5. Does this mean by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Does this mean I can sue when I get dumped?

    1. Re:Does this mean by derGoldstein · · Score: 2, Funny

      RTFA. They refer to "socially painful" -- you don't need a girlfriend, you just have to be rejected by someone. Being a /.er, it's likely most of us...*cough*...YOU are sitting on a goldmine.

      --
      Entomologically speaking, the spider is not a bug, it's a feature.
  6. A General Theory Of Love by tunapez · · Score: 2, Informative

    Great book on this very subject, very insightful. Don't let the title dissuade you, it is actually chock full of empirical data and good lessons in anatomy and the psyche.
    A General Theory Of Love

    --
    Imagination drew in bold strokes, instantly serving hopes and fears, while knowledge advanced by slow increments...
  7. Oblig. Simpsons quote: by benwiggy · · Score: 4, Funny

    "You may say she died of a ruptured ventricle; but I know she died of a broken heart."

  8. Makes Sense... by BJ_Covert_Action · · Score: 4, Informative

    Not to undermine the work of the researchers but this makes sense from a theoretical standpoint in terms of evolution. Humans as social creatures that reproduce sexually. It makes sense that, over the years, those individual genes that allowed humans to learn to flinch away from social stigmatization and learn from sexual/romantic rejection would survive more generations than those that didn't as, such genes would produce more socially acceptable creatures. For the human species, being socially acceptable is an instinctual desire as we tend towards the safety in numbers lifestyle. Loners, stragglers, and folks that never learned that rejection is a *bad* thing would/could have been picked off by predators easier and such. Hopefully, of course, that doesn't mean that slashdotters will start dying off anytime soon.

    All jokes aside, though, I think I would have been more surprised to have learned that heartbreak and social rejection does not cause some kind of negative reinforcement within the human psyche. It is, of course, still interesting research.

    --
    Motorcycles, Robots, Space Gossip and More!
    1. Re:Makes Sense... by jameskojiro · · Score: 4, Funny

      NO NO NO, God designed us 6,000 years ago to feel real pain on rejection from other humans because he is a sadistic control freak.

      You people who reject the Bible's completely 100% accuracy really sicken me, how dare you attempt to think logically and critically!!!!

      --
      Tsukasa: All I really want, is to be left alone...
    2. Re:Makes Sense... by sumdumass · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Isn't it logical to think that society as we know it is shaped because of feelings and pain we as a species experience? Your reality would be entirely different if that wasn't true. It is an intended outcome.

    3. Re:Makes Sense... by Biogenesis · · Score: 2, Informative

      This finding also supports earlier research which showed the area of the brain associated with pain lighting up due to social rejection. There's a PDF from 2007 which describes the earlier research. It was also reported on the Australian Science show Catalyst.

      --
      ...just so Google finds it.
  9. Painkillers? by dunkelfalke · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Does it mean that painkillers like Ibuprofen would help to lessen the pain of being dumped? That is a kind of an acute issue for me right now.

    --
    "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
    1. Re:Painkillers? by wgoodman · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Some of us actually don't really go for the meaningless sex all that much.. i've given it a go, but i'd much rather actually feel something for the person i'm giving it to..

    2. Re:Painkillers? by value_added · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Pain killers like the kind your brain gives you when you get laid would work better. Seriously, go have some meaningless sex - it WILL help.

      Mod parent up. I've had my heart broken a few times, but there's usually one relationship that kills you the most, and it's that one that lingers throughout your life.

      At the time, I tried working longer hours, regularly drinking heavily, lots of drugs, socialising with friends, going for long solitary walks ... you name it. Distractions like working longer hours do help (provided you're past the "I'm out of my mind with grief and want to kill myself and take everyone with me" stage, but anonymous sex beats the other methods by a mile.

      You'll earn bonus points if your anonymous sex partner is especially pretty; you tend to experience everything with heightened awareness in the first few weeks or months, so chances are high you'll remember your partner's face and body (and possibly her name). Being able to move very far away earns you the Daily Double, just so long as you don't risk losing everything by travelling back in the first few years to wallow in the nostalgia.

      When all is done and you've moved on with your life, be sure to watch or listen to some Sam Kinison videos from time to time to keep things in "perspective".

    3. Re:Painkillers? by elbobo · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Those are the two things I applied a year ago (and am still applying) to get over a broken heart. I left my country, started travelling and kept travelling, and have shagged lots of different lovely girls along the way. It really works. And I've met some great people.

    4. Re:Painkillers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Hey, he's not one of us any more! Get him!

    5. Re:Painkillers? by commodore64_love · · Score: 2, Funny

      >>>crap sex without love is often just crap.

      Which is why I just watch playboy.com instead. "Nobody knows you like yourself."

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
    6. Re:Painkillers? by girlintraining · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Those are the two things I applied a year ago (and am still applying) to get over a broken heart. I left my country, started travelling and kept travelling, and have shagged lots of different lovely girls along the way. It really works. And I've met some great people.

      Oh isn't this typical! Someone says they're hurting because they've lost the one they love and the answer is "Yeah, I'd miss the sex too." A broken heart doesn't come from a lack of nookie you insensitive bastard. It comes from the gut-wrenching experience of having invested months or years into a relationship that suddenly ends. And usually because of that kind of investment, the other relationships in that person's life have suffered neglect to maintain the romantic one. So it's a double-whammy -- not only are they suddenly alone, but everyone they used to know is either gone or distant to boot. It's not just the rejection of a former lover that hurts, its waking up from that and discovering you don't have any friends around you either -- possibly because your ex has them all now!

      Sex is not going to fill that hole if you have any kind of heart, okay? Every man seems to think it will and they go on a massive f*ck-fest. It doesn't work. After their 15 seconds of fame is over, they're still lonely. And it's not just men either -- women with low self-esteem do the same thing. That hurt you feel late at night that makes you want to clutch a pillow and imagine someone holding you does not come from a lack of sex. It comes from a lack of love. And for that, there's only one thing to do; Start meeting new people. Not just people you're sexually attracted to (chances are you're too depressed anyway to be objective about this) -- I mean anyone that seems even remotely interesting. Reconnect with the human race. Don't take pills, don't buy a big sack of condoms, and don't hit the frozen dairy aisle -- get up, go outside, and don't come back until you've learned at least one new thing about someone you didn't know before. And find friends that don't say things like this idiot did -- sex is not everything. Any real friend will tell you this.

      --
      #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    7. Re:Painkillers? by Hurricane78 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      No, those work at the wrong place. The ones you'd need are the substances is the most hard drugs (which are also in most hard pain killers, with just one molecule changed a tiny bit).

      Unfortunately they are both addictive as hell, and will make your life even worse. ;)

      I wonder though, why nobody invented the inverse drug. Something that makes you feel like crap, but if you stop taking it, you will feel really really good, and with some time, you will have "irreparable damage" with being unable to feel very bad anymore.

      Now that would be a twist, wouldn't it? ^^

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
    8. Re:Painkillers? by girlintraining · · Score: 2, Interesting

      What's missing is the reciprocated love, but casual sex takes that pain away. It's a medicine, not a replacement.

      It's still like eating three snickers bars in a row. It doesn't take away the pain, it just covers it up for a few minutes until you realize you're still hungry for something and go for the next bad coping mechanism on the list.

      ...but it fills the hole and takes the suffering away. It's the medicine that heals.

      Having meaningless sex doesn't heal, it just obscures the real problem -- meaningless sex isn't real different from masturbation.

      And please, don't condescend to me. You're way out of your depth here. You clearly do not understand how men work. We're built fundamentally differently from girls when it comes to emotions. What the emotional world looks like to you has no relation to how it is for guys.

      I should apologize for advising people to build mutually empowering and beneficial long-term relationships instead of one night stands? I do have a good grasp on what the "emotional world" of the average guy looks like -- it's mostly a desolate wasteland of drinking buddies, hobbies that long ago lost their luster, and filled with cliched advice from so-called friends and coworkers. They're lucky if they've got that one guy-friend who they can be vulnerable to and trust not to rake their masculinity over the coals for doing so. The end result? When a man's heart breaks, it's not the quiet little death that us girls experience -- it's a suicidal plunge into darkness that takes years, sometimes decades, to repair. I've seen too many nice guys fall apart in the worst ways possible from a broken heart and never fully heal from it... and it's because of crap like what you're saying -- they try for years and years to fill that hole with sex, but it doesn't work and they feel miserable and long for a girl that'll respect and cherish them... But by the time they realize that, every woman in his life has run away for fear of being turned into a sex object. It's a stupid cycle of self-harm.

      --
      #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
  10. It's Okay.... by thephydes · · Score: 2, Funny

    most slashdotters are socially inept, so a broken OS is more likely to produce pain than a broken heart

    1. Re:It's Okay.... by CharlyFoxtrot · · Score: 3, Funny

      It's OK, I use a unix based OS which means I have to reboot my computer about as often as I get laid. So ronery.

      --
      If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
  11. Re:slashdoters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Don't let the door hit you on your way out, Mr. Drama Queen.

  12. You left one part out. by FlyingSquidStudios · · Score: 5, Funny

    The Psychologists later added, "if you're a total pussy."

    --
    http://twitter.com/OLDTELEGRAM
  13. Sounds like they isolated the "whiner" gene. by znerk · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The article seems to state that those who reported higher levels of physical pain also reported more easily feeling rejected in a social situation. Therefore, it stands to reason (at least to me) that they have isolated the gene which causes people to complain, rather than any link between physical pain and emotional distress.

    Yeah, I know, what kind of slashdotter am I, if I actually RTFA?

    --
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
  14. Thanks Slashdot. by Goalie_Ca · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I just got home. It's 3:30 am. I missed my bus. I cockblocked her "ex" or whatever he is all the way to the bedroom door. Had a brief chat (clenched fist ready to pound the shit out of him) but really it was both of them and not him alone. I need to be able to trust her too! I walked the fuck out at first swearing like a mother fucker in my best québécois i know all the way down broadway street vancouver. I finally calmed down enough to feel the pain. It really hurt. I turn on my computer to try and calm down (can't sleep in this state) and wtf do I see? A study that says i feel pain right now. Well duh! I physically feel pain and my gut is wrapped up like a turban.

    --

    ----
    Go canucks, habs, and sens!
    1. Re:Thanks Slashdot. by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Informative

      dude, kick her to the curb, because you will feel that again and she WILL do it to you again.

      If you like feeling betrayed, stay with her. If you want to stop the pain, throw her and all her crap out the door. There are 10,000 more just for you that are far better than she is. Out there waiting for you.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    2. Re:Thanks Slashdot. by DigiShaman · · Score: 2

      Before kicking anyone out the door, it's best to apply some revenge! There must be some justice applied in this world. Besides, it will help dramatically in the pain recovery. I know it did for me.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
  15. Re:As for me by buck-yar · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Yeah me too. Found out my problem was not enough exercise. I've hit the workouts harder than I ever have in my life and its minimized the emotional pain. I just feel better in general.

    Google Shaun T's Insanity workout. Guaranteed you cannot do it without 10 breaks.

  16. Re:I could've saved them some money by elbobo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    That's not the point. There's plenty of things we can observe as apparent fact. The research is to work out the how and why.

    Sometimes that research confirms what we hold to be self evident truths while providing an empirical description of the functioning of the phenomenon, and sometimes it shows the truth to be false, based on misconception or otherwise.

    The research is important; knowledge and understanding is important.

  17. Re:As for me by pjt33 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Google Shaun T's Insanity workout. Guaranteed you cannot do it without 10 breaks.

    Since the first hit shows that it comes on 11 DVDs, I'll believe you.

  18. Paging Hank Williams Jr. by G-Man · · Score: 2, Funny

    Sounds like you've got the start of a good country music song right there...