There is a study which shows that just looking at a picture of a loved one can help reduce pain. The same goes for holding a loved one's hand, that is proven to reduce pain.
A study which included 25 women, mostly students at UCLA, who had been in good relationships for at least six months. These women received heat stimuli to the forearm and then they reported their pain levels while looking at pictures of their boyfriends, while looking at a picture of stranger, and while looking at a picture of a chair.
They also received stimuli and reported pain levels while they were holding hands with their boyfriends, while holding hands with a stranger, and holding a squeeze ball.
Sarah Master, PhD and colleagues from the UCLA department of psychology found that the boyfriends' presence, whether holding their hands or just seeing their photos, reduced the participants' pain ratings.
"This really changes our notion of how social support influences people," says study co-researcher Naomi Eisenberger, PhD, assistant professor of psychology and director of UCLA's Social and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory. "We thought that in order for social support to make us feel good, it has to be the kind of support that is very responsive to our emotional needs. However, we are seeing that just a photo of one's significant other can have the same effect".
So a bit of practical advice is: If your loved one can't be with you when you are going through a painful experience, bring his or her picture along.
