The evidence is convergent. Multiple independent sources reach the same conclusion, the underlying mechanism is well-characterized, and even the field's most cautious voices treat it as worth doing.
If people are looking at an image or thinking about a person that they love, or even a thing that they love, a pet that they love, studies previous to the one that Mackey and colleagues did showed that their experience of pain was reduced. Their threshold for pain was higher. They could tolerate more pain and they reported it as not as painful.
Every Sunday: the week’s new conflicts and verdict changes — and nothing else.
Native comments, Twitter mentions, and Reddit threads about this claim — surfaced together so the conversation isn't fragmented across platforms.
Bookmarking — the dossier-vs-overview split is the right call. Most of the time I want overview; sometimes I want receipts.
Would love a "what would change this verdict" RSS feed. Sign me up if it exists.
Love works great. Love works great. It was a wonderful analgesic. It significantly reduced people's pain.
they explored the extent to which looking at an image of somebody in this case a romantic partner that the person loved would allow them to adjust their pain response and it turns out it does they could tolerate more pain and they reported it as not as painful
In a study of 15 young adults (19-21 years), viewing a picture of their romantic partner significantly reduced both moderate and high pain from controlled heat shocks.