ability of psychological states, such as romantic love, to
reduce pain is of interest given the great burden that
chronic pain places on society. Chronic pain impacts over
100 million adults in the United States alone and is estimated
to cost over $500bn per year [8]. Although current
pain treatments mainly rely on analgesic properties of
opioids, there are concerns about the long-term effectiveness
of prescription medications and a growing
awareness of their adverse effects, including misuse
and addiction [9]. The ability to understand factors
that influence analgesia is important as we look for
nonpharmacological mechanisms to reduce chronic pain.