As usual in threads on topics like this, you can rely on HN participant carbocation's comments for some thoughtful perspective on the original article. As the

As usual in threads on topics like this, you can rely on HN participant carbocation's comments for some thoughtful perspective on the original article. As the submitted article notes, responding to the press releases by the study authors, "This all raises more questions than it answers. This study was small. The headlines are grandiose. The way people pass moral judgements is not necessarily indicative of their level of existential anxiety." Indeed. This is an intriguing issue to study, and well worth some further studies by other investigators to see if the results will be replicated in other study populations, but the author of the submitted article was correct to have a headline with an open-ended question rather than a definitive statement about Tylenol. On my part, because I take different over-the-counter pain relief medications when I need any of those, I'm curious if this result would be replicated for aspirin or for ibuprofen. That the pain of stubbing a toe and the pain of rejection in love might have some of the same brain mechanisms is suggested by our use of the word "pain" for both phenomena. But that requires further study. (I'm sure there are many studies already on that issue, but I'm not deeply familiar with the research literature on that topic.) That pain (of either kind) might motivate action and thus dulling pain might reduce motivation for some actions is also plausible, and also has surely been investigated before, but perhaps there are still some very basic facts about that issue yet to be discovered. As so often happens after a new study is published, the most firm conclusion is "further research is needed."