Media articles relevant to social pain

Brain produces painkillers to help ease social pain, study finds. By Hayley Dixon and agencies. Published 16 October 2013. Telegraph.

Ouch! In the Brain, Social Rejection Feels Like Physical Pain. By Matthew D. Lieberman, October 11, 2013. Blog Discover Magazine   

Brain treats rejection like physical pain say scientists: Human brain treats rejection in a similar way to the way it processes pain. By Heather Saul. Published 16 October 2013.  Independent.

Invisible Scars - The invisible scars of war: How the Syrian crisis affects refugee children. By Amanda Woerner, Loren Grush, Published September 05, 2013, FoxNews.com

On-line free-access journal articles

The pain of social rejection: As far as the brain is concerned, a broken heart may not be so different from a broken arm. By Kirsten Weir. Published April 2012, Vol 43, No. 4. American Psychological Association.

Personal stories

A Muslim daughter's role in preparing her mother for burial -  When her mother died, Momtaz Begum-Hossain discovered that, as a Muslim daughter, she was expected to perform a specific traditional role in the burial process  

Caregiving from another continent -  Judith Graham asks 'How many people who come to America for an education or a job and stay eventually become transnational caregivers — people who care for relatives or friends across national boundaries?  No one really knows. But there’s certainly a long tradition of cross-border family interactions in this nation of immigrants.'

Selbin Kabote reports on the emotional costs of migrating to the UK  - While attending several predominantly African Diaspora church forums, community group meetings and other gatheringsSelbin Kabote found that issues of loss and the emotional cost of migrating to the UK were often discussed. To learn more, Selbin decided to conduct interviews with African men andwomen, many of them Zimbabweans, in Birmingham, London and Nottingham.

My experience as a nurse on Christmas Island changed the core of my being - This is a moving and compelling first-hand account from a mental health nurse contracted to provide care for asylum seekers on Christmas Island. 'Shona Hunter' describes how 'Every day, I would be reminded of how evil humans can be to one another. I talked to a young Afghan man who was a Hazara ethnic minority. He has fled his country after a home invasion, where he witnessed his brother and father being murdered in front of him. He escaped, made it to a relative's home, and started his journey to Australia the next day. After experiencing numerous beatings and being shot at along the way he arrived in Indonesia, boarded a boat and took his chances. He was one of the lucky ones – he made it alive.'

I'm living as an undocumented migrant in Ireland - 'Currently we live on the edges...I work as a childminder and love what I do but I despair to think that one day we could be told to get out of Ireland and have no more contact with the children that I love with all my heart.

My husband was a lawyer in Brazil and feels very frustrated not to pursue a better job, a job that he can show his real ability. He works as a cleaner here. This has also affected our married life. But I admire him immensely for everything he does..."

Undocumented: the paperless Christmas - Gerry’s grandfather had visited him in the US every year around Thanksgiving until his illness stopped him travelling. Gerry’s family in Carrick-on-Suir, in Co Tipperary, initially weren’t going to tell him that his grandfather was ill: they knew it would devastate him. Eventually they told him.

Every morning Gerry cried going to work as a builder after talking to his grandfather on his computer. He prayed for two things: that his grandfather would get better and that he himself would get a green card.

On a good -day she would kiss me back - Ted Comet on Alzheimer's and trauma. In 1998 my wife Shoshana was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. An accomplished artist and psychotherapist who worked with Holocaust survivors (of whom she was one), the woman who once spoke eight languages could barely speak at all.

Did Shoshana know who I was? There were good days and bad. During the bad days I would say that the ‘light was definitely out.’  On the good days, I would come to her and embrace her. I would kiss her, and she would kiss me back, which elicited wonderful memories of a loving marriage.