Summary: A new study reveals swearing can help to alleviate both physical and social pain.

Source: Massey University.

Swearing has been shown to relieve physical pain when it comes to banging your toe or slamming a finger in a door. Now, a new psychology study shows we shouldn’t be coy about cursing when suffering from an aching heart or hurt feelings.

In his just-published study: Hurt feelings and four letter words: Swearing alleviates the pain of social distress, Dr Michael Philipp, a lecturer at Massey University’s School of Psychology, suggests swearing aloud may provide some relief from people who are experiencing “short-term social distress.” This could be anything from a lovers’ tiff to being excluded from a social situation, he says.

Dr Philipp, director of the Social Cognition Lab at Massey’s Manawatū Campus, says previous studies in the United States have investigated common methods – such as paracetamol – for…