Love and heartbreak
■ Hi HIW, I bought my first edition of your magazine this month, intrigued by the article on heartbreak. I believe the initial definition of heartbreak as the experience of rejection is much too narrow because death is then cited as one of the causes. I certainly don’t see death as rejection or a ‘downfall of love’ and I take issue with linking these, or at least the link for me wasn’t very clear. Isn’t death and heartbreak more to do with the loss of love, whatever the cause or form it takes? Lynn Muldrew
Thanks for getting in touch. In a recent issue we explored the impact of love on the body. As part of this we looked into the effects caused when a relationship with a loved one changes or ends. Heartbreak covers a range of situations and severities. Rejection was used to refer to one of the acts that can lead to heartbreak, but does not define all elements of it. The comparison showed being rejected from a relationship during the early stages of love to the unexpected loss of someone you love and everything in between – but no two can bring exactly the same feelings or physical responses. The ‘downfalls of love’ referred to the times when love is anything less than the perfection often associated with it. One of the medical examples used was broken heart syndrome, which is a serious response of the body often caused by a more intense loss. This syndrome has occurred in those dealing with the heartbreak that comes with losing a loved one, as well as other examples that were used in the feature. While rejection, betrayal, loss and death were all examples behind heartbreak following love, they were not meant to be interchangeable.