For other uses, see Broken heart (disambiguation).
“Heartbreak” redirects here. For the New Edition album, see Heart Break.

A broken heart (or heartbreak) is a common metaphor used to describe the intense emotional pain one feels after losing a loved one, through death, divorce, or other means as in breaking up with someone or having your partner move away. It is an extremely old and widespread metaphor that dates back to at least the time of the Ramayana where it was commonly used .

Heartbreak is usually associated with losing a spouse or loved one, though losing a parent, child, pet, or close friend can also “break one’s heart”.

Contents

• 1 Philosophical views
• 2 In popular references
• 3 Symptoms
• 4 See also
• 5 References
• 6 External Links

Philosophical views

For many people having a broken heart is something that may not be recognized at first, as it takes time for an emotional or physical loss to be fully acknowledged. As Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson states:

Human beings are not always aware of what they are feeling. Like animals, they may not be able to put their feelings into words. This does not mean they have no feelings. Sigmund Freud once speculated that a man could be in love with a woman for six years and not know it until many years later. Such a man, with all the goodwill in the world, could not have verbalized what he did not know. He had the feelings, but he did not know about them. It may sound like a paradox — paradoxical because when we think of a feeling, we think of something that we are consciously aware of feeling. As Freud put it in his 1915 article The Unconscious: ‘It is surely of the essence of an emotion that we should be aware of it.’ Yet it is beyond question that we can ‘have’ feelings that we do not know about.

In popular references

• This biblical reference highlights the issues of pain surrounding a broken heart:

Psalm 69:20 Insults have broken my heart and left me weak, I looked for sympathy but there was none; I found no one to comfort me.

In this Psalm, King David says that insults that have broken his heart, not loss or pain. It is also popular belief that rejection, major or minor, can break an individual’s heart. This heartbreak can be greatly increased if rejected by a loved one or someone whom you respect.

• In Shakespeare’s King Lear Lear dies of a broken heart, amongst other causes, in Act 5 Scene 3:

EDGAR : He faints! My Lord, My Lord!
KENT: Break heart; I prithee, break!

In many legends and fictional tales, characters die after suffering a devastating loss (see above – King Lear). But even in reality people die from what appears to be a broken heart. Broken heart syndrome is commonly blamed for the death of a person whose spouse is already deceased, but the cause is not always so clear-cut. The condition can be triggered by sudden emotional stress caused by a traumatic breakup, the death of a loved one, or even the shock of a surprise party.

Symptoms

The symptoms of a “broken heart” can manifest themselves through psychological pain but for many the effect is physical. Although the experience is regarded commonly as indescribable, the following is a list of common symptoms that occur:

• A perceived tightness of the chest, similar to an anxiety attack
• Stomach ache and/or loss of appetite
• Partial or complete insomnia
• Anger
• Shock
• Nostalgia
• Apathy (loss of interest)
• Feelings of loneliness
• Feelings of hopelessness and despair
• Loss of self-respect and/or self-esteem
• Medical or psychological illness (e.g. depression)
• Suicidal thoughts (in extreme cases)
• Nausea
• Denial
• Fatigue
• The thousand-yard stare
• Constant or Frequent crying
• A feeling of complete emptiness

See also

• Anger
• Stress cardiomyopathy
• Heart
• Heart (symbol)
• Emptiness
• Limerence
• Love
• Loneliness
• Grief
• Pain
• Psychological Pain
• Interpersonal relationship
• Intimate relationship
• Depression

References

1. ^ Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, General McCarthy: When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals ISBN 0-385-31428-0
2. ^ Study Suggests You Can Die of a Broken Heart. Washington Post (February 10, 2005). Retrieved on 2006-09-23.
3. ^ “Broken Heart” Syndrome: Real, Potentially Deadly but Recovery Quick. Johns Hopkins Medicine (February 9, 2005). Retrieved on 2006-09-23.

External Links

Healing A Broken Heart Broken Heart Help

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Categories: Love | Figures of speechHidden categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements since January 2008