They were walking on Bonnie Brae Street, a couple blocks east of MacArthur Park, where it’s not uncommon to see people who are either asleep or passed out, with syringes and needles scattered about.

It might even be a misnomer to call some of these sweaters; many are actually nothing more than a polyester sweatshirt with a stockinette stitch screenprinted on them in a sad imitation of what it could have been, had it actually come off of someone’s knitting needles.

In one Instagram video posted in October, Gonzalez stood in front of a gas station in the little desert town of Needles, where a gallon of regular gas cost $5.89.

Yet she had a lifelong fear of needles and had frequently sought other ways to deal with the disease.

The researchers were able to see how the subjects' brain activity was affected when they were shown images of hands being penetrated by needles, which normally activates the parts of the brain that tend to react to the experience of suffering or pain in others.