It turns out that Botox can actually short circuit a person’s ability to feel unhappy. Because of the apparent validation of something called the, “Facial Feedback Hypothesis”, the fact that Botox prevents frowning… also short circuits one’s ability to fully feel the emotions associated with it.
David Havas of the University of Wisconsin-Madison decided to study people who had received Botox treatments that paralyzed one pair of their corrugator muscles, which cause the forehead to constrict into a frown.
The idea was to see whether Botox affected the ability to feel certain emotions.
He had 40 volunteers who were planning to be Botoxed in two weeks read statements with particular emotional charge segmented into three categories:
Angry (“the pushy telemarketer won’t let you return to your dinner”)
Sad (“you open your e-mail inbox on your birthday to find no new e-mails”),
Happy (“the water park is refreshing on the hot summer day.”).
After reading each sentence, the volunteers pushed a button to indicate they had understood it.
Then, two weeks after their Botox injections, they repeated the exercise, reading and understanding another list of emotion-producing sentences. The volunteers pressed the “I’ve read and understood this” button just as quickly when the sentence conveyed something happy.
But when it conveyed something infuriating or unhappy… people took longer to read and understand it.
The emotions simply did not compute as easily as before their sadness and anger muscles were paralyzed.
“Normally, the brain would be sending signals to the periphery to frown, and the extent of the frown would be sent back to the brain,” UW-Madison professor emeritus of psychology Arthur Glenberg (and Havas’s adviser) said in a statement.
“But here, that loop is disrupted, and the intensity of the emotion and of our ability to understand it when embodied in language is disrupted.”
The research is part of a exciting field called “embodied cognition,” which posits that all our cognitive processes are rooted in, and reflected in, the body. I think this is very interesting.
Some very interesting questions come to mind if this is replicated. Can we simply paralyze certain expressions out of existance? Can we simulate “happy” expressions somehow in order to help people experience deeper levels of happiness?
This also seems to demonstrate just how complicated our emotional lives are. It kind of flies in the face of the notion that all you have to do is think yourself into certain states of being – it appears you need a body that can cooperate!
Anyway, I would love to know what you think about this! Please do comment.
*source: University of Wisconsin
Comments
turjcxg
March 23rd, 2010 at 10:55 pm
This is VERY interesting! Thank you for posting this article. Some very long time ago, someone told me to walk around with a smile on my face even if I feel like crying. I thought it was silly but there is some serious merit to this!
turjcxg
March 23rd, 2010 at 10:57 pm
I'm not sure I'd go for botox to change my emotions but this article definitely helps me focus on putting AND KEEPING a smile on my face more often (even when I don't feel like it)! Thank you for posting the article!
Darwin Rosales
March 24th, 2010 at 2:23 am
That is very interesting and an eye-opener. A further tweak of the research may result in effecting positive mind-body coordination that may ward of certain diseases and other forms of illnesses directly or indirectly caused by negative emotions.
Estella
March 24th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
In the The Secret CD, Rhonda Byrne recommends smiling from one minute when you feel sad or down. I used the technique many times and it works! I do believe you can change your emotions by changing your body. Don't we all feel much better when we are healthy, athletic, slim and energetic? Thanks for the information.
Marc
March 24th, 2010 at 8:39 pm
Excellent article. It may work on the same principle as 'laughter therapy' – by laughing, even if ur sad, u fool the brain into thinking ur happy
I laughed so much at some of the comments, I fooled my brain into thinking I'm happy lol
Keep up the good work.
Marc
keyses
March 24th, 2010 at 9:30 pm
I think this is probably right. Expression has to be partof feeling, if you felt happy and couldn't smile you would feel like you could implode or if unhappy and you surpressed “crying” – that's it isn't it, not being able to express feelings in your face surpresses the feeling. I think you would probably start being introverted if you could not express yourself. Botox injections for vanity sake, in my opinion anyway, are pointless, I always wonder if one day people who do this will be like Dorian Grey and their whole face will just melt into a mass of wrinkles!
jill1
March 25th, 2010 at 2:55 am
I am a speech pathologist who works with people with neuromuscular diseases and strokes who have paralyzed faces of varying degrees. My experience with them is that they don't have negative emotions less than those with mobile faces. In fact they have them more(anecdotal), My favorite example-a woman with a right hemisphere stroke and a completely flat affect(no facial expression and completely flat tone of voice-picture a department store dummy) was told by her husband that he could no longer keep her at home because she was too impulsive and dangerous and wore him out. She had no change of facial expression or voice, did not appear angry in the least, and said to him “You son of a bitch, you've got a girlfriend, when you had a heart attack I took care of you and now that I need you you're dumping me you son of a bitch”. Those very angry words did not match her facial expression at all. Granted, paralysis from disease is not the same as paralysis from Botox, but if the theory is no facial expression gets rid of negative emotions, then that population needs to be looked at, and I think that would disprove it.
Diana
March 25th, 2010 at 8:48 am
I think Jill's observation is probably valid. It would seem logical to me that people who have had strokes would absolutely be more prone to depression and anger. Perhaps a stroke can also sometimes have a negative effect on the brain causing personality changes.
She is talking about people who obviously have significant enough facial paralysis to affect their speech whereas Botox is selectively injected into only the muscles around the forehead. Those with Botox can still smile and speak, they just can't furrow their brows as when sad or worried. Therefore, I also agree with her that the paralysis is not the same in regards to paralysis from disease vs Botox. Therefore, I can not agree that this in any way disproves the Botox/negative emotion theory.
tish
March 25th, 2010 at 11:55 am
Once again, humans will find a use for a drug in order to avoid dealing with their issues. It may take a while, but if this is true, it will be advertized with a double purpose and it will then be a way of escape. Sad, but true. Whenever we mess with creation, it will come back and bite us in the butt.
Terri
March 25th, 2010 at 4:39 pm
Just as carpel tunnel can manifest itself in a pinched nerve in the upper back, frowning might just travel the other way up into the emotional centers of the brain….we people are so fascinating.
Lucy
March 26th, 2010 at 1:50 am
Please don't tell Stephen King about this. It has all the makings of a very weird horror novel. Kind of like Stepford Wives…I think the implications, if you really think about them, are rather creepy.
basic817
March 27th, 2010 at 1:06 pm
I really can't believe the venom that spews from that group of right wing idiots who have to bring in their hatred of Nancy Pelosi to this conversation. What kind of people are these? Botox will not help them.
Linda
March 28th, 2010 at 10:56 am
I find this entirely believable and vindicates body, mind and spirit approaches such as Bowen and Jin Shin Jyutsu. I think it would be sad to use artificial stimulants such as Botox to eradicate unwanted emotions. The range and contrast of our emotions is what makes the human condition so rich. What would be preferable is to acknowledge our own responsibility for our emotions and respect our bodies as part of a complete and magnificent system.
Ariel
March 29th, 2010 at 5:10 pm
I completely agree with Margaret and Rosemary! Nancy Pe-lousy's botox addiction may be good for her but bad for the rest of us! Maybe a little less botox and a little more worry about what she's doing to this country would be a good thing!
eLi
March 31st, 2010 at 5:00 pm
It seems possible that you feel the feeling exactly the same but are just less able to recognize it in language because the communication route is interrupted. And so it would just inhibit your ability to understand and communicate about the feeling rather than reducing the incidence of it.
eLi
March 31st, 2010 at 5:03 pm
Previous comment in mind, it's still fascinating! Thanks for bring some more intriguing content to my awareness
Angelo Bonilla
May 16th, 2010 at 7:06 am
Well, this is a scientific subject and I'm no scientist, but with hypnosis we can integrate mind, body, and emotions and channel them to achieve our goals. It is possible, with hypnosis, to more easily be able to create, and/or choose our emotions. The old adage that one can be as happy as he makes his mind to be is not only true, but a lot easier with the help of hypnosis.
Connie
June 4th, 2010 at 8:55 pm
Wow! This is quite interesting that you need both. I have a Behavioral Science background, dealing mostly with unhappy people this could be just the ticket to get them off in the right direction or at least the thereapist that work with population. Every professional knows that working day in, day out with this population makes more unhappy workers than ever because you can't bring happy up, but you can bring happy down.
fat loss 4 idiots
July 12th, 2010 at 10:23 am
And if you believe drug-maker Allergan, which produces Botox, the emotions never go away at all. In response to the study, Allergan issued a!