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I feel your pain.

Debater Slayer

Vipassana
Staff member
Premium Member
A study of brain scans shows the brains synchronize when a couple holds hands. This results in decreased pain in the person exposed to a painful stimulus.

He’s not just saying he feels her pain—he really is

I find this fascinating but, if true, not very surprising.

As a side anecdote, my absolute deepest and most satisfying heart-to-hearts were when I held my best friend's hand while talking to her. I'm pretty sure it varies for some people, but it does give me a lot more emotional satisfaction.
 

Vee

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
See, that just shows how important human contact is. People really need to get their heads out of their electronics and be in real touch with others. :)
 

Subduction Zone

Veteran Member
Cool article. I presently help my father out at an assisted care facility. About eight years ago he suffered from a fall and went from one hundred percent functioning and independent to being wheel chair bound with ever decreasing brain function. He rarely talks at all now, and one problem he suffers from is contraction of his legs. I do physical therapy on them on a regular basis and I will use how he grasps my hand or fingers to judge his pain level. When he is relaxed he will hardly squeeze at all, but the worse he hurts the harder he squeezes. Plus there is agitation of the whole arm that tends to go with pain. I communicate more with him by non-verbal means than verbal these days.
 

Quintessence

Consults with Trees
Staff member
Premium Member
Healing touch is a well-established as a practice, and it is used because it works. No surprises here.
 

Quintessence

Consults with Trees
Staff member
Premium Member
One of the things I strongly believe in is the power of human touch.

To some extent, the acceptance of it seems to depend a bit on presentation. I've sometimes noticed "skeptics" doing their typical knee-jerk dismissal of practices like healing touch the moment they realize it's classified as "alternative medicine" and "energy work." If a thread on this topic was created from the perspective of healing touch rather than having a scientific article attached, we'd probably have seen some of that... haha.
 

Subduction Zone

Veteran Member
To some extent, the acceptance of it seems to depend a bit on presentation. I've sometimes noticed "skeptics" doing their typical knee-jerk dismissal of practices like healing touch the moment they realize it's classified as "alternative medicine" and "energy work." If a thread on this topic was created from the perspective of healing touch rather than having a scientific article attached, we'd probably have seen some of that... haha.


Communication and healing are two different things. So called energy work is bogus. We know why. When you physically touch someone there is feedback between the two of you. "Sharing the pain" makes the pain easier to take, and that is a good thing. But overstating the results is what lends to frauds such as reiki.
 

Mock Turtle

Oh my, did I say that!
Premium Member
As mentioned in the comments, and here:

Brain coupling? Isn't the partner just picking up small signals from the other's hand, like twitching, clutching, temperature, pulse, etc? I would think the hands are actually quite expressive, and couples in particular would be more attuned to how to interpret the physical responses.

Isn't this having an effect?
 

Subduction Zone

Veteran Member
As mentioned in the comments, and here:

Brain coupling? Isn't the partner just picking up small signals from the other's hand, like twitching, clutching, temperature, pulse, etc? I would think the hands are actually quite expressive, and couples in particular would be more attuned to how to interpret the physical responses.

Isn't this having an effect?

Yes, it is communication. But please note another poster brought up the nonsense of "energy healing". That is a totally different subject. Communication can lessen pain. Touch can by used to communicate. The only effect in "energy healing" is the placebo effect.
 

atanu

Member
Premium Member
As mentioned in the comments, and here:

Brain coupling? Isn't the partner just picking up small signals from the other's hand, like twitching, clutching, temperature, pulse, etc? ......

Isn't this having an effect?

None of the physical signals that you have listed may be equated with empathy, unless there is real empathy. Holding hand is symbolic for those who know but is required for those who rely only on the physical and are not sensitive enough to pick empathy if not accompanied by physical touch etc.. There are true known cases that agitated minds get calmed in presence of sages -- no touch required.
 
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