Turns out, your best friend’s face is therapy, according to a psychiatrist
Seeing your best friend’s face can calm your brain just like comfort food, say mental health experts. A psychiatrist explains how friendship triggers emotional safety, reduces stress, and helps regulate the nervous system.
Some days, all it takes is a single look at your best friend, a familiar smile, that 'I gotyou' expression, and suddenly, the world feels a little less loud. No advice. No fixing. Just relief. Science now says that feeling isn’t imagined.
Mental health experts explain that seeing the face of a close friend can trigger the same calming response in the brain as comfort food. Yes, the emotional equivalent of mac and cheese, minus the carbs. Let's dig deeper!
Why your brain feels safer around your best friend
Your closest friend is often someone who has seen you at your best and your most chaotic, and stayed anyway. That history matters. According to psychiatrists, the brain associates familiar, emotionally safe people with predictability and acceptance, two things the nervous system deeply craves during stress.
“Seeing a trusted friend activates neural pathways linked to reassurance and reward,” explains Dr Kedar Tilwe, Consultant Psychiatrist at Fortis Hospital, Mumbai. “This leads to the release of neurotransmitters like dopamine and oxytocin, which help reduce anxiety and stabilise mood.”
In simpler terms: your brain relaxes because it knows it doesn’t have to perform.
Why does this feel similar to comfort food
Comfort food works not because it’s indulgent, but because it’s familiar. The same logic applies to friendships. Both experiences tap into emotional memory, moments when you felt safe, cared for, and understood.
Dr Tilwe adds that the real psychological benefit lies in emotional security, not pleasure. “A best friend represents acceptance without judgement. Comfort food represents familiarity without uncertainty. During emotional fatigue, the mind looks for what feels reliable.” That’s why people crave old favourites, whether it’s dal-chawal or a late-night call to that friend, when life feels overwhelming.
What’s happening in your nervous system
There’s also a physiological shift at play. Ms Sheena Sood, Consultant Psychologist at P.D. Hinduja Hospital and MRC, Khar, explains that both warm food and familiar faces help regulate the nervous system. “When we’re stressed, the body stays in fight-or-flight mode,” she says. “Seeing a friend’s face or eating comfort food helps activate the parasympathetic nervous system, the state associated with rest, relaxation, and emotional safety.”
In a high-pressure, always-on world, that switch is powerful. It’s why a hug can sometimes do what motivational speeches cannot.
Why this matters more today
Long workdays, constant notifications, competitive environments and emotional burnout have made stress the default setting for many adults. In that context, small moments of calm aren’t luxuries, they’re regulation tools. Friendships, experts say, are not just social niceties. They’re emotional anchors. And sometimes, just seeing your best friend, even on a video call, can signal safety to the brain. No wonder that one glance can feel like coming home.
So yes, comfort food still has its place. But if you’re looking for something with fewer calories and deeper emotional nourishment, science suggests this: Call your best friend. Or better, see their face. Your nervous system will thank you.
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