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Science Science shows some people can't get over loss of loved ones
Science Science shows some people can't get over loss of loved ones | Science shows some people can't get over loss of loved ones |
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| by William Atkins | |
| Tuesday, 01 July 2008 | |
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Page 2 of 3 Based on this psychological problem, researchers led by Mary O’Connor, of the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California (Los Angeles), studied twenty-three women who had lost a sister or mother to breast cancer within the past five years. Featured Whitepaper
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Science DiscussionsThose women diagnosed with uncomplicated grief are able to get back to a normal life after mourning the death of a loved one. The O'Connor team used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure blood flow to various parts of the brain. Specifically, the researchers showed the female subjects a series of sixty images. Each picture contained two people (the deceased loved one and a stranger) and one word (either a word associated with the death, such as “cancer,” or a similarly looking, but neutral, word, such as “ginger") As expeced, the results from the fMRI scans showed increased activity in the pain-processing areas of the brain when the subjects where shown images of their deceased loved ones or grief-related words. These pain-processing areas of the brain did not increase in activity, also as expected, when the subjects were shown a picture of a stranger or a neutral word. However, the researchers were surprised to find that the women who had earlier been diagnosed with complicated grief also showed increased activity in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) when they were showed pictures of their deceased loved one or a grief-related word. NAcc is also known as accumbens nucleus, a region of the brain thought to control such emotions as laughter, reward, pleasure, addiction, and fear. It has been called the “pleasure center” of the brain. The O'Conner team made several suggestions based on the conclusions of their study. Please read on. |
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