I think I've identified the pain in my neck

Brain pain the same for ego blow, physical punch - CNN.com

"There's something about exclusion from others that is perceived as being as harmful to our survival as something that can physically hurt us, and our body automatically knows this," the researcher said.

Eisenberger said the study suggests that social exclusion of any sort -- divorce, not being invited to a party, being turned down for a date -- would cause distress in the ACC.

That's the anterior cingulate cortex, the part of the brain that registers physical pain (but you all knew that, right :-).

What I wonder is how this affects memory and recall? How does the passage of time affect our recollection of those painful moments? And how does maturity effect it as well? Some rejection turns out to be good--the cool kids at school who ended up getting in trouble, the girl who turned you down but wasn't really right for you anyway....In retrospect some social exclusion is to our benefit. Does that realization affect how our brain perceives that pain? How our brain perceives the memory of that pain?

But I love how science continually confirms common sense.

Rejection hurts.

Wow. Profound.