Breaking up is really hard. Yes. It is.Good. Now that that’s cleared up, there’s some remarkable new research that explains why.
Romantic love is a specific form of addiction – there are similarities between romantic rejection and cocaine craving.
A study published in the Journal of Neurophysiology has found that a relationship breakup may feel so painful because it activates the part of the brain associated with motivation, reward and addiction cravings.
There’s nothing sharp in the observation that breakups can send behavior a bit off the wall.
Though there’s nothing wrong with:
- back-to-back doona days in a room that you haven’t left in days and which is cluttered with tissues, old photos (that may or may not be torn/ crumbled/ aimed at the bin) and DVD box sets;
- obsessive googling of your horoscope in the hope that it turns up something about a ‘special meeting with a loved one’, or ‘she will leave him for her dream career – patting cats for rich busy people’, then, because perfect closure is excellent, ‘you will become a rich busy person. With a cat. And a rather wonderful someone’;
- actually reaching 100 in your list of 100 Things I Always Hated About Him (you loved him yesterday remember, but go for it – just don’t send it to his mum);
- posting regular Facebook updates with too many caps and exclamation marks like ‘Best. Night. EVER!!!’ Or ‘AH-MAZ-ING!!!! No words ;)’ when you actually spent the night crying into your cereal with Coldplay’s ‘Fix You’ on repeat in that bedroom that is actually starting to smell like hate;
they generally fall just outside the lines of the everyday.
What They Did
The researchers recorded the brain activity of people who had recently been through a breakup, were still intensely in love with their ex, spent most of their waking hours thinking of them and desperately wanted the relationship back.
Participants were shown a photo of their former partner and then distracted from their romantic thoughts by completing a simple maths exercise. They then looked at a photo of a familiar ‘neutral’ person.
What They Found
Brain scans showed similarities between romantic rejection and cocaine craving. Looking at photos of their former partners stimulated key areas of the brain to a greater degree than looking at neutral photos. The key areas were:
- a part of the mid-brain that controls motivation and reward;
- an area associated with craving and addition, specifically the reward system also active in cocaine addiction;
- the area associated with physical pain and distress.
And The Best Bit – The Proof It Will Pass
The study also found evidence that in relation to a breakup, ‘time heals.’
As time passed, brain imaging showed less activity in the area of the brain associated with attachment when the participants looked at photos of their former partners.
Breaking up feels awful and can feel like you’ve been sent on a lonely stint to crazy town. Let yourself drop your bundle for a bit (within reason – stalking and publicly bringing him/her down will never end well).
You’re going through a major upheaval and your brain and your body are going to take some time to adjust.
And they will adjust.
As awful as it feels, the pain won’t last forever. Now science has done a(nother) beautiful thing and given us the research that proves it.
Yes I feel a pain as she left to a different state but stopped texting. 3 weeks before she was going to leave we got a little cold with the relationship mainly from her. She said I was suspicious sometimes when I’ve only asked questions to understand her. She was married 2 times she told me, and I was ok with anything she said. Sometimes things didn’t seem to add up as she was evasive in a weird way. Anyway she stopped texting when she got down south. She was going there for only two months, checking on a doctors advice of operation for sciatica. She said it stressed her out sometimes just talking, which obviously was a red flag to me, figuring she could have wanted to be alone OR didn’t want to admit how she hurt me. It was easier just to slip out of sight I suppose. It hurt me. I mean I’m not dumb but it hurt!
I am experiencing intense pain, guilt and flashbacks, literally years after the end of my first real relationship, lasting 5 years, with a much older man. I couldn’t handle the age difference but didn’t feel able to end it either. I kept the relationship a secret from my family as I am sure they would have told me never to darken their doorstep again. In the end I had to leave the relationship quickly and unexpectedly, to avoid a breakdown. I rushed straight into another liaison (which was a disaster) but never grieved the original relationship or, importantly, returned to explain and apologise for the hurt I had caused. I simply felt too uncomfortable and anxious to make contact.Recently I learned that the man had died. All the stored-up guilt, sorrow and regrets have hit me, hard. Too late now to change things. Goes to show how important it is not to run from the prospect of breaking up because covering things up, as I did, doesn’t help and can make things so much worse all round.
I broke up with him on Christmas Day after six years. The last three had no emotional touch, and I always initiated any hug or kiss. We went from being close to barely talking or texting. Yet I feel horrible. In my head. I know we haven’t really been together for 3 years, but I hurt so much. I feel guilt. I feel like a horrible person. I know time will heal. I know God will take care of him and of me. I know this is necessary for the healing. But I forgot how painful heartbreak is. It is probably why I held on for so long.
How do you feel now that some time has passed? Are you better? I am going through horrendous breakup pain at the moment.
I went through a breakup just yesterday. It feels like a doom. Feels sooo fu*kin awful!! I know I did the right thing breaking up with her because we want different things from Life…but still it hurts soo much! Reading this article gave me some hope. I know I will be better in a few weeks/months. Thankyou:))
Im I’m so much pain right now . That I can’t control the sadness of my break up
. I miss them like crazy and can’t stop missing stuff ! Like the past