Breaking up, as the Neil Sedaka hit goes, is hard to do. The emotional pain of a romantic breakup can be so severe that it has its own clinical name — love trauma syndrome, or LTS.
But help can be at hand for those looking to mend a broken heart. New research shows that wearing a £400 headset for just a few minutes a day can alleviate the misery, negativity and depression that can come with a failed relationship.
In a study, 36 volunteers with love trauma syndrome wore the device that stimulates the brain with a mild electrical current.
The volunteers were divided into three groups, each wearing the transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) headsets for 20 minutes, twice a day over five days.
In one group, the current was aimed at the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). In another, it targeted the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC). In the third, the headset is turned off.
Both regions targeted are involved in voluntary emotion regulation. Previous neuroimaging studies suggest that there is a neuropsychological link between breakup experiences and bereavement, and that specific prefrontal regions are involved, the study said.
LTS can cause emotional distress, depression, anxiety, insomnia, mood swings, obsessive thoughts and an increased risk of suicide, as well as feelings of insecurity, helplessness and guilt.
the study room, published in the Journal of Psychiatric Researchconcluded that for LTS symptoms, DLPFC stimulation was more effective than VLPFC stimulation.
“Both DLPFC and VLPFC protocols significantly reduced LTS symptoms, and improved depressive state and anxiety after the intervention, compared to the sham group,” concluded researchers from the University of Zanjan in Iran and Bielefeld University in Germany. “The ameliorative effect of the DLPFC protocol on love trauma syndrome was significantly greater than that of the VLPFC protocol.”
A month after stopping the treatment, volunteers still felt better. The study’s authors said, “These promising results require replication in larger trials.”
to newsletter promotion
In recent years, techniques such as tDCS have been introduced into clinical research. Pilot studies on the NHS are said to be testing similar headsets to see if they can help treat mild depression.
“Since negative emotions predominate after the failure of an emotional relationship and emotional dysregulation occurs, emotion regulation is considered the main treatment goal. Although effective treatment approaches such as cognitive-behavioral therapy do exist, innovative and complementary treatment approaches are valuable because those treatments do not work in all patients,” the study said.
“Considering the relationship between love trauma and emotional regulation, which is associated with activation of specific brain areas and networks, treatment methods that target the involved brain areas may be promising.”
