Breaking up is known to be very painful, and it can cause so much mental pain that it's been dubbed love trauma syndrome (LTS).
However, a new study gives people whose broken hearts hope has hurt by saying that a £400 headset can make the pain of a broken relationship much less severe.
Targeting Key Brain Regions: Significant Reduction in Symptoms
Researchers from Germany's Bielefeld University and Iran's University of Zanjan have shown that using a transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) headset for just 20 minutes twice a day for five days can reduce LTS symptoms. The study, which was released in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, involved 36 volunteers going through LTS. They were split into three groups, each receiving a different approach through the headset.
The tDCS headset sends a small amount of electricity to parts of the brain that control emotions. Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) stimulation was administered to one group, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) stimulation to another, and a fictitious treatment in which the headset was switched off to the third group.
The DLPFC and VLPFC are both essential brain parts for controlling feelings. Previous studies have found a neuropsychological link between the feeling of a breakup and grief, suggesting that these parts of the brain play a role in how we feel when we lose a romantic partner.
The results looked promising. Individuals stimulated in the DLPFC showed the most significant change, with major decreases in depressive, anxious, and emotional symptoms.
Individuals in the VLPFC stimulation group also experienced less substantial improvements. Interestingly, both groups that received genuine stimulation reported feeling improved even one month after the treatment concluded, unlike the sham group.
The results of this study indicated that the DLPFC and VLPFC procedures had a substantial effect on the reduction of indicators of love trauma syndrome (LTS) and the alleviation of anxiety and depression in comparison to the sham group. They found that the DLPFC protocol helped people with love stress syndrome a lot more than the VLPFC protocol.
More general effects and a future in clinical use
These results are fascinating because they point to a new way to help people deal with the mental effects of a breakup that doesn't involve drugs or surgery. Traditional treatments, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), are more effective for certain individuals; however, this is not the case for all. The tDCS headpiece is a novel concept that has the potential to be implemented in conjunction with other treatments.
The writers stressed the need for more work to confirm these positive findings in bigger studies. In the past few years, tDCS has been studied in clinical trials for several different purposes, such as treating light depression. This new study adds to its possible uses by showing that it can help with mental pain caused by breakups.
TDCS headsets may become a common way to treat LTS. Since having trouble controlling your emotions is a big problem after a breakup, directly hitting the parts of the brain that control these feelings can help quickly and effectively.
Although ending a relationship may never be easy, this study offers hope that a £400 headgear may lessen the suffering. With time, technology may become a crucial tool for assisting people in coping with the loss of a loved one and facilitating their ability to resume their lives.
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