Here is a fascinating research study on the thin line between between love and hate reported by the Daily Mail last October.
There really is a thin line between love and hate – at least in the brain, scientists have shown.
A new study reveals that the brain’s “love” and “hate” circuits share identical structures.
Both include regions known as the putamen and insula which are linked to aggression and distress.
Professor Semir Zeki, who carried out the brain scan study at University College London, said: “Hate is often considered to be an evil passion that should, in a better world, be tamed, controlled, and eradicated.
“Yet to the biologist, hate is a passion that is of equal interest to love.
“Like love, it is often seemingly irrational and can lead individuals to heroic and evil deeds. How can two opposite sentiments lead to the same behaviour?”
In an attempt to find out, Prof Zeki’s team scanned 17 male and female volunteers while they looked at pictures of individuals they hated, as well as familiar “neutral” faces.
Viewing a hated person activated distinct areas of the brain described by the scientists as the “hate circuit”.
Previously, the same team had carried out a similar study of people shown pictures of their romantic partners.
The “hate circuit” was found to include structures important for generating aggressive behaviour, and translating angry thought into action.
It also involved a part of the frontal cortex critical to predicting the actions of others.
The putamen and insula are two distinct structures in the sub-cortex, which lies behind the cerebral cortex, or “thinking” region.
Earlier work has implicated the putamen in the perception of contempt and disgust and it may also be part of the motor system that is mobilised to take action. The insula controls the brain’s distress response.
Prof Zeki said: “Significantly, the putamen and insula are also both activated by romantic love. This is not surprising. The putamen could also be involved in the preparation of aggressive acts in a romantic context, as in situations when a rival presents a danger.
“Previous studies have suggested that the insula may be involved in responses to distressing stimuli, and the viewing of both a loved and a hated face may constitute such a distressing signal.
“A marked difference in the cortical pattern produced by these two sentiments of love and hate is that, whereas with love large parts of the cerebral cortex associated with judgment and reasoning become de-activated, with hate only a small zone, located in the frontal cortex, becomes de-activated.
“This may seem surprising since hate can also be an all-consuming passion, just like love. But whereas in romantic love, the lover is often less critical and judgmental regarding the loved person, it is more likely that in the context of hate the hater may want to exercise judgment in calculating moves to harm, injure or otherwise extract revenge.”
The activity of some of the structures varied according to how much “hate” a volunteer said he or she felt.
A state of hate could therefore be objectively quantified, said Prof Zeki, whose research is reported in the online journal PLoS One.
He added: “This finding may have legal implications in criminal cases, for example.”
There remains one big difference between love and hate. While romantic love is directed at just one person, hate can target numbers of individuals or groups defined by their race, gender, social or cultural background or political beliefs.
Prof Zeki now plans to investigate these different varieties of hate.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1081242/Brain-line-love-hate-scientists-reveal.html
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13 Comments
Hello Dr. Amen
I wanted to take a moment and say thank you for the work you do and I have high hope that maybe some day I can afford to come from Minnesota and see you. I have suffered from Major Depression for 15 years now and SSRIs no longer work and I’ve tried just about anything. My doctor who has tried everything he can to help me is running out of ideas and I’m scared that I will never find something that work for me for longer than a 2 year span.
I already know that I have a chemical imbalance due to having approx. 50 surgeries in my lifetime so far (I’m 27) but I think that makes it that much harder, because all the work I do to change my thoughts and actions and my brain still doesn’t always do what I need it to do to feel better. It’s so frustrating!
But I just wanted to say thank you for your work and for your blog and I am praying for a miracle that I can come and see you some year soon and maybe get some help so I can start living rather than continuing to die from this horrible illness.
Wow 50 surgeries by age 27. The amount of anethesia had to have a profound effect on your Brain chemistry,i’m assuming also pain medications also. Illegel Drug abuse?
Go to see them somewhere. It will help!Find Music to calm you.Self hypnosis. From years of same depression and 20 years of psycho therapy{I now have 128 credit hours besides}We only do things for one of 2 reasons=1.Gain a benefit or 2.Avoid a Loss.Your choice as was mine!
Dear Dr. Amen,
I learned a lot from your presentation on PBA and of course your book “Magnificent Mind at Any Age”.
Based on your book check, if I would have memory problem, reading comprehension problem, memory retriernl of words, word finding problems, emotional instability and reading & language processing problems; what supplement medicine would you recommended and for how long. I hope the economy will recover soon and I love to come to your office even for scanning.
Thank you,
Tad
This is for Nichole; not to circumvent Dr. Amen’s advice, but I suffered for years from depression until I found Dr. Michael Murray’s book, “Natural Alternatives to Prozac”. With the guidelines in that book I was able to break the cycle of depression almost completely, but still felt that something was wrong. I later ran across Dr. Amen’s book, “Healing ADD…” and realized that I have had ADD all my life (I was then 66 — now am 71) and applying his advice, I have greatly decreased the ADD, and have had NO depression for many years! It is no longer a part of my life, for which I am grateful to those two excellent and caring doctors. Thank you, Dr. Amen
Nicole,
Read the Chemistry of Joy (Henry Emmons). It will offer you alternative ways to deal with your depression that might be helpful.
Best of luck!
Dear Nicole, as you can see there are lots of people who seek alternatives to the pharmaceuticals. Also for others here, I watched an amazing documentary called “food matters” where experts give advice on how to use natural foods and vitamins to treat many illnesses including mental. I highly recommend to anyone suffering depression and other illness to take a look. Website is..www.foodmatters.tv…and good luck
I find that the information that you provide is not too highly technical, yet still understandable and useful
I am a high school teacher who has hanging on her classroom wall one of your brain on drugs posters. Sutdents always ask whether the users are daily users or periodic users. I would like to know, too. The poster generates a great deal of interest: unfortunately, probably because they are users! Thanks
What are the changes in paraphilias, especially sadism and pedophilia, and way you can help? I guess, judging by your work, it should be temporal and frontal lobes combination dysfunctional?
I heard there are two hate centers in the brain-toward different subjects and another one for everyone. How far apart they are from each other and center of love/sex?
Nicole,
I was moved by your comments about your depression and many surgeries. There is a very simple system called “thought field therapy” which has proven very effective for many people. You can learn more at the following link:
http://www.emofree.com
best, wishes….
I am fascinated with the tiny differences between love/hate brain activity. I had always heard that if someone proclaims that they hate you, they still -in a way- love you because the passion is similar…Hmmm, now that just became more interesting to me!! Anyway, here’s something that came to my mind that I didn’t see spelled out in the exerpt: My idea of what the biological reasoning is behind the brain’s function in these circumstances. I see it as something from our primitive instincts that has evolved (and still is evolving, let’s hope!! ha ha)…If we feel LOVE, our brain assumes we can now relax and trust, so it “lets down its guard” by de-activating our important situation-evaluating sensors….When we are feeling HATE, our brain assumes we are in danger and we NEED to be “on our guard” for survival purposes, and need to be ready to make quick decisions and judgements and we get that added bonus of aggression …which I will guess gets the adrenaline rushing? I realize this info is used in a relationship context, but I’ll bet the same brain activity occurs no matter where the LOVE/HATE feelings come from? And of course, the degree of LOVE/HATE intensity will vary in each individual as stated in the article. Perhaps it’s a kin to the fight/flight response?
It would interesting to explore the balance of Love vs hate in the context of these feelings as applied to groups of people such as in race, gender, etc., by adding the variable of one’s Spiritual Faith. For example one may be personally fearful of a group or persons, but when he/she runs his perpective through his spiritual filter I would hyposthesize that the Balance would skew to the Love side of things. // For example, in viewing a photo of KuKluxKlan members at a burning cross we as individuals may feel fear, hatred, & distain; however when we ask our GOD, e.g. Christian Triad GOD for help we may receive & feel His compassion for these others’ misguidedness, this being a higher form of Love. // So in going to such a higher source we may divert base human fear & mistrust and move into a higher Love, which may then allow one to approach and share this healing from misguided hate with members of hate groups like the KKK. Some members may be ready to let go their hate as well as it gets old and wears one down. Ahh, the peace of Love is sweet & fearless, and can raise us to a higher place in each of our lives, so the Peace of Love be with you today.
I am just so facinated more and more, as I read. I don’t know if I am more confused now or not? I am learning alot though. Keep up all the good studies and we will certainly benenfit from your advancement in your studies! THANKS FOR THIS VERY IMPORTANT WORK YOU ARE DOING DR. AMEN, YOUR ONE IN A MILLION DOCTOR!