October 15, 2023

All of us have, at one moment, felt “heart-broken”, the emotional roller coaster that can make even the toughest among us curl up with a tub of ice cream and a tear-jerker movie. When it feels as if your heart shattered into pieces, sometimes it’s even hard to quantify how hurt it feels, the other times, you feel like your chest been stomped on by an elephant and it’s impossible to breath and continue living. That’s right, heartbreak, has a story to tell.

As its core, heartbreak manifest as social pain — the profound distress experienced when social ties are absent, threatened, damaged, or lost — which shares neural and neurochemical similarities with physical pain. And it’s proven by MRI Scans that the intensity and duration of the emotional and physical pain of heartbreak are akin to the agony felt after severe physical trauma. Apparently, the same neural circuits that fire up when you got burn or bone fractured are the ones that go haywire when your crush becomes your ex.

Studies have demonstrated that the caudate nucleus, typically involved in reward detection, and the ventral tegmental area, associated with pleasure and motivation, are implicated in the experience of heartbreak. A study performed by Lucy Brown, Xiomeng Xu, and Dr. Fisher revealed that there’s heightened activity in the ventral tegmental area, ventral striatum, and nucleus accumbens among individuals undergoing various stages of a breakup. These regions are integral components of the brain’s reward and motivation circuitry, where the release of dopamine plays a pivotal role. 

Additionally, the prefrontal cortex part of the brain, the wise-guy behind all rational decision, responsible for decision-making and processing information objectively, tends to deactivate during heartbreak, hindering one’s ability to perceive the situation clearly. This deactivation, coupled with hyperactivity in the limbic system, disrupts the balance of hormones such as oxytocin and dopamine, making it challenging to maintain a balanced perspective. Consequently, the body responds by releasing stress hormones like cortisol and epinephrine, leading to a cascade of physical symptoms including cramps, tension, headaches, chest pain, dizziness, and fatigue.

So there you have it, little girl. Heartbreak isn’t just about tears and tissues; it’s about a multifaceted interplay a various neurotransmitters and brain regions in the epic saga of love gone wrong, underscoring the profound impact of social pain on an individual’s overall well-being. From the decline of oxytocin and serotonin to the surges in cortisol and depletion of dopamine, heartbreak is not solely an emotional experience but a physiological one as well, highlighting the interconnectedness of the mind and body in the face of emotional distress. Your brain is playing a wild symphony of emotions, and you, are the conductor!