Nearing the End (Day 8) 23.03.12

Today was uneventful, intervention wise, as I spent most of it busy with things which disallowed me to wear headphones. But I did find an article on the effects of ignoring people, or giving them 'the cold shoulder'. I've had to, on some level, ignore a few people during this process. I'm not sure on the legitimacy of this, but it is quite intriguing;

"Probably at one time or another you have been either on the giving or receiving end of a silent treatment, otherwise known as the cold shoulder. What you probably didn’t realize is that the silent treatment is a form of ostracism. When someone is ostracized it affects the part of their brain called the anterior cingulate cortex. Do you know what the anterior cingulate cortex does?

The anterior cingulate cortex is the part of the brain that detects pain. When you give someone the silent treatment you are causing that person physical pain. Simply by ignoring someone else’s existence you can inflict pain on them. This is what the ever popular “time out” with a child is so effective. The child feels ostracized, therefore is feeling pain even though no physical pain was inflicted on them, and therefor they want to behave so they don’t have to feel that way again.

The silent treatment can be a very destructive behavior when it involves personal relationships. Let’s say with a husband and wife for instance. The silent treatment breeds bitterness on both ends and it borders on emotional abuse… I’m not making that up to be dramatic. That’s what “they” say." - The Silent Treatment. Ken Savage. http://www.kensavage.com/archives/silent-treatment/