Emotional pain is worse than physical injury

Pain has physical and emotional aspects in addition to sensory components, which explains that there are neural connections between the perception of physical and social pain. The neural connections of emotional pain have been highlighted in neuroscience studies, which reveal that there is significant overlap between the physical and emotional phenomena. According to Boldsky, some studies say that emotional distress can cause more pain than physical injuries. A study, published in the journal Psychological Science, showed that people experiencing emotional pain had higher levels of pain than those experiencing physical pain. Also, emotional pain can recur over and over, while physical pain only causes damage once. Among the negative effects of emotional pain are: 1- Painful memories The results of a scientific study revealed that cognitive states, such as memory and attention, can reduce or increase pain. In contrast to physical pain, emotional pain leaves behind a number of pain triggers, namely memories, which bring back the feeling of pain any time a person experiences a similar or related condition. 2- Health problems There is a complex relationship between psychological stress and pain symptoms, as some studies say that painful or negative emotional experiences can lead to a verbal reaction that appears as physical pain. Focusing on a traumatic event in the past can increase feelings of stress and lead to a number of health problems such as altered brain chemistry, high blood pressure, cancer, diabetes, and a weakened immune system. 3- Psychological damage Sometimes one episode of emotional pain is enough to seriously damage a person's mental health. For physical pain to have an impact on our mental health, it must be intense and traumatic. Long-term emotional pain can trigger symptoms of depression in individuals, which can lead to a higher risk of abusive behavior or deviant behavior such as substance abuse. 4- Empathy gaps An empathy gap usually reflects a person's tendency to underestimate the influence of other psychological states on their behavior and to make choices that take into account only their current feelings or current moods. Empathy gaps can reduce emotional pain, but not physical pain. Therefore, when emotional pain appears, it causes more pain than physical pain. Experts recommend that mental health should be treated with the same level of care and attention as physical health. When a person suffers emotional injuries such as rejection, failure, loneliness, or guilt, their first concern should be to heal them, in the same way that they rush to heal physical wounds.