We all wondered why disappointment hurt so much, it’s not surprising to know that these experiments significantly alter the balance of the neural universe contained in our brain.
Neurologists point out that the mechanisms of depression share processes and structures with those who make sense of disappointment.
- From a neurochemical point of view.
- Disappointment is almost equal to frustration.
- We also know that these two elements are perhaps the emotional realities we experience most in daily life].
We feel them when the computer suddenly has a problem, especially when we need it most, we are disappointed that someone we want to see cancels the appointment, etc.
We are frustrated when our car refuses to “get it” or when we do not get an answer to the job offer we request.
Our daily lives are full of frustrations and disappointments; some lighter and some more severe, however, all leave a mark.
In any case, there’s something obvious that neuroscientists have recently discovered. Before every disappointment, one? Neural firing that suddenly causes a decrease in Serotonin, Dopamine and Endorphins.
All these molecules responsible for our well-being reduce, for a moment, their presence in our brain, let’s look at some more data below.
“Waiting is the root of all anguish”. ? William Shakespeare?
Jean Paul-Sartre said that every dreamer is doomed to experience a lot of disappointments, sometimes we create great expectations. Most of us have ever put it in the pockets of others: an excess of desires, ideals and excessive virtues.
People fail us, it is true, but it is also true that we too are fallible, that we are disappointed and disappointed.
Is this psychological reality part of life and yet our brains don’t digest it?This body, governed above all by social and emotional principles, always seeks safety, feeling part of something or someone in a stable and predictable way.
For example, if we have a good friend, we hope he always is. If we have a partner, we also hope that it will be sincere, that there is no possibility of lies or betrayals.
However, at any time, the security ideal we have can collapse. The reason why disappointment hurts so much is explained below, depending on neuroscience.
Roberto Malinow, professor of neurobiology at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, conducted a study with his team to understand the complex mechanism of deception.
What they managed to demonstrate was the great involvement of the cerebral dress in processes such as disappointment and depression.
Thus, when a person is disappointed, the habenula immediately releases glutamate and GABA; if the brain sends a lot of these neurotransmitters, the sense of disappointment will be greater.
In other words, it is our brain that interprets the impact of experience and modulates the intensity of our emotional pain.
In addition, the feeling of frustration or shame at not getting something or making mistakes is also treated in this small (and ancient) region of the brain’s epithemic nucleus.
Most of us have experienced a taste for disappointment, in these cases there is a fact that we all already feel: disappointment hurts and physically hurts.
We also notice fatigue, body weight, numbness and the feeling that the world is moving too fast as we try to deal with the disappointment we feel.
Why did this happen? This data is as impressive as it is curious, we know that when we take a hit, when we cut or burn, our body releases endorphins to alleviate as much physical suffering as possible.
The brain reacts instantly to the message sent by our receptors in the presence of physical injury. However, the same is not the case with “injuries”. Psychological.
While the brain interprets disappointment itself as an impact against emotional balance, it does not respond with endorphins, on the contrary, in many cases this ends up adding suffering in the form of physical pain, migraine and muscle tension.
Neurologists say that the fundamental reason disappointment hurts so much is that it is treated in the limbic system, this structure of our brain is the most primitive and related to our emotions.
Most of the time, when we suffer a setback, when someone lets us down, or when we fail in life and are disappointed, we filter out these experiences in a purely emotional way.
One way to reduce the impact of these experiments is to target them at the cerebral cortex, that is, they must be reasoned, seen from a more objective point of view.
Of course, something like this isn’t easy. Not when what we feel is the weight of betrayal and the collapse of what we value most: trust.
However, that’s what we have to do. And we can work on it by controlling negative thoughts and s dropping out of looking for the culprits.
In addition, we need to adjust expectations, be more realistic and accept what we cannot control, after all, disappointments are not forgotten, but they are overcome.
We can live with them assuming what happened, but knowing that nothing is more important than moving forward, we still have beautiful stories to write, in which suffering will not be present.