A heartbreak can be a person’s lowest point in life. It is very common in people as we learn to interact and bond with each other. As we develop thoughts and emotional attachments, the separation and feeling of neglect from the significant other may be extremely stressful to a person. I have experienced a few heartbreaks myself, and each experience is horrendous. It feels as though I have lost myself in my memories, reliving in both the good and bad moments. People say that time will heal a heartbreak. Although I find this method inefficient, I believe time does make a heartbreak feel less painful. However, I have never considered relieving heartbreak from a medical perspective. In Betty Swain’s blog “One Pill That Can Alleviate Heart-Break,” 70% of the patients with PTSD find relief in reconsolidation therapy.
Depending on the type of breakup and the mental capacity a person can handle, the person may develop trauma after a breakup. This is why I believe the reconsolidation therapy is not overstepping its ethical boundaries in manipulating human emotions and stress levels. The therapy is merely helping the person accept what is happening and remove the trauma associated with the specific memory. If the patient is only writing down the painful memories, then the positive or happy memories should not get distorted.
In a philosophical perspective, the feeling of distress and emotional pain can help a person develop new insights, thereby making the person motivated to reach emotional maturity. Nonetheless, it depends on the person whether he or she is approaching the emotional pain with a positive or negative attitude. For example, if a person developed symptoms of severe depression after a breakup, then the person might not be motivated to pursue his or her hobbies, interest, and dreams.
I believe there are many reasons explaining why time can alleviate a heartbreak. If the amygdala is a portion of the brain that stores long-term emotional memories, then the memory might have faded over time due to lack of use. The majority of people can remember episodic, emotional, and spatial memories by rehearsing those memories over and over. If the person does not use the memory often, then the memory fades in accordance with Daniel Schacter’s seven sins of memory on transience.
I agree with Swain that a heartbreak is part of human nature. We learn through our experience by approaching the things we consider pleasurable. To know what is pleasurable, we must know what events give us emotional pain. We cannot consciously erase negative memories because we need to learn from those memories to avoid detrimental decisions in the future. The reconsolidation therapy may be one of the most fascinating findings I have heard. However, considering how the therapy is reported to relieve only 70% of the patients, I believe the therapy may not be for everyone. This is not surprising because each person is unique.
I find that some methods are effective in relieving heartbreak pain. The first one is exercise, which releases chemicals called endorphins that makes a person feel relaxed. The second one is meditation. Meditation enables a person to explicitly face his or her suffering and accept who he or she is. The third is to spend more time with friends and family. Having people around a person will divert his or her attention from the painful memory and enables the person to make new happy memories. Again, I want to emphasize that each person is special and unique. Whether or not a person can accept the pain from a heartbreak depends specifically on the person himself.
by Naive Health Lady Lu February 23, 2020
Naive Healthy Lady Lu 