Humans have a need for belonging and social attachment. Social support buffers feelings of depression as well as physical pain. Some people however, had parents that never cuddles them, and ostracism was used as punishment. That leaves us in a very vulnerable situation. Often putting up with toxic people only to have at least somebody. If and when we finally get away our anxiety shots through the roof and the feeling of ostracism is literally painful. A next, possibly also toxic relationship would bring some relief from this pain BUT this is not how we heal. So, let’s look at the cellular mechanisms to learn how we can manage this pain of ostracism and find a healing sense of belonging.
C tactile afferent fibers are neuronal receptors in the human skin, in hairy skin to be precise. They response to a light touch (1). Therefore, they are mostly associated with pleasant touch and furthermore in the modulation of opioids receptors. In medical setting opioids are often used for pain relief. This way the C tactile afferent fibers also contribute to our perception of physical pain (2).
Can feelings of ostracism be reduced by slow touch activating C tactile afferent fibers?
Participants (n = 84) played two rounds of a cyber ball game. First the ball was passed to all players equally, to establish a baseline. In a second round of the cyber ball game all participants were discriminated. Now, half of the participants (n = 42) received slow brushing on the arm and the other half (n = 42) fast brushing. They filled out a questionnaire again – and it turned out that people that merely received the softer brushing treatment felt less ostracized (3).
To clarify slow brushing meant 3 cm/s and fast brushing meant 18 cm/s. I am being very specific here because abuse survivors often approach things with a „get it over with and be done with it“ kind of attitude. I at least were going too fast and too hard when I had taken out my make up brush.
It is remarkable that people feel less ostracized only by the stimulation of C tactile afferent fibers. However, brushing your arm is not a cure all things. But the findings underline the importance of touch in human relationships and the impact they have on our mental wellbeing.
I dive deeper in the importance of human touch in Food & Clothes are NOT ENOUGH for healthy child development. Utilizing a brush is just one way of trying and heal attachment issues. Pets are also beneficial I talk about that in BOND with a DOG – if your parents wouldn’t be there for you. If you got out a brush and tried a slow brushing treatment on yourself and didn’t like the experience at all, check out my continuative post A CLAP on the BACK – WON’T comfort me.
(1) A system of unmyelinated afferents for innocuous mechanoreception in the human skin (1993) A. Vallbo, H. Olausson, J. Wessberg, U. Norrsell
(2) Social touch modulates endogenous μ-opioid system activity in humans (2016) L. Nummenmaa, L. Tuominen, R. Dunbar, J. Hirvonen, S. Manninen, E. Arponen, A. Machin, R. Hari, I. P. Jääskeläinen, M. Sams
(3) The soothing function of touch: affective touch reduces feelings of social exclusion (2017) M. von Mohr, L. P. Kirsch, A. Fotopoulou
