Rejection and Brain Opioids

Social rejection appears to piggyback on physical pain pathways in the brain. fMRI studies showed that physical pain and rejection pain activate the same brain areas. This may explain the reason that neurologically speaking, rejection pain hurts so much. Brain scans of individuals experiencing social rejection showed that the brain’s opioid systems were highly reactive, releasing its natural painkiller. Researchers found, however, that the underlying personality of an individual appeared to play a role in how active their opioid system response was. Interestingly, individuals who scored high in resiliency on a study questionnaire, tended to release more opioid during social rejection, especially in the amygdala. Those who were experiencing depression or social anxiety failed to recover as quickly or as fully from a negative social experience. It may be that the brains of individuals experiencing depression or social anxiety are less capable of releasing opioids when under social distress. 

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