“There there now” — online empathy from a stranger makes pain more bearable

• Jul 30, 2025 • by Paul Ingraham
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A weekly nugget or two of pain science news and ideas for patients and pros, usually 400–1000 words. The blog is the “director’s commentary” on the core content of PainScience.com: a library of major articles and books about common painful problems and popular treatments. See the blog archives or updates for the whole site.

There there. 🤗 I hear you. I understand your pain (seriously). I’ve got your back.

And now I bet you’re feeling better already, less pain just from reading these empathetic words! You’re welcome!

A new study by Karos et al concludes that even online social support can blunt pain. And from strangers, no less! If they’re nice. The active ingredient of empathy can be delivered through the internet’s tubes, perhaps.

Good to know, if true. There are disclaimers, of course — small study, acute pain, lab conditions, any number of possible confounders, et cetera — but it’s an interesting little experiment.

Line graph showing pain intensity over time under different social conditions. The x-axis represents time and the y-axis represents pain intensity (not numerically labeled). Four lines are plotted: a black line for “Alone” showing the highest pain intensity; green for “Online Support,” red for “Online Stranger,” and blue for “In-person Support,” all showing lower and nearly identical pain intensities. Large curved text emphasizes the contrast: “pain intensity while alone” above the black line, and “pain intensity with in-person, online, online stranger support” below the other three lines.

Fig. 4 from the paper by Karos et al., Journal of Pain, Articles in Press, 105392, April 12, 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.jpain.2025.105392

Note that this result harmonizes nicely with a 2024 study by Licciardone that showed better outcomes for chronic low back pain patients working with empathic doctors.