Researchers have just identified that physical and emotional pain utilize the same neural pathways. If fact, recent research has shown that taking a Tylenol can decrease emotional pain.
I think this is due to the impact of the drug on the GABA neural receptors in the medial amygdala.
Dopamine in the medial amygdala network mediates human bonding.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 Feb 28;114(9):2361-2366. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1612233114. Epub 2017 Feb 13
Author information
Atzil S1, Touroutoglou A1, Rudy T1,2, Salcedo S1, Feldman R3,4, Hooker JM1, Dickerson BC1,5, Catana C1, Barrett LF6,2.
Abstract
Research in humans and nonhuman animals indicates that social affiliation, and particularly maternal bonding, depends on reward circuitry. Although numerous mechanistic studies in rodents demonstrated that maternal bonding depends on striatal dopamine transmission, the neurochemistry supporting maternal behavior in humans has not been described so far. In this study, we tested the role of central dopamine in human bonding.
The results of this study suggest that synchronous maternal behavior is associated with increased dopamine responses to the mother’s infant and stronger intrinsic connectivity within the medial amygdala network. Moreover, stronger network connectivity is associated with increased dopamine responses within the network and decreased plasma oxytocin. Together, these data indicate that dopamine is involved in human bonding.