Eating chocolate, embarking on massive shopping sprees, watching "Sex and the City" with your girlfriends - these are just some of the go-to methods for women recovering from a broken heart. But what if you medically couldn't recover? For Samara O'Shea, that's exactly what happened.
In a recent Marie Claire article, O'Shea discusses her post-break up depression that was far from normal heartache. For more than six months, she grieved severely, even coming down with physical symptoms like dry-heaving and stabbing chest pains. There didn't seem to be a way to get over her ex, but as one doctor explained, that's because O'Shea has a condition called limerence.
"A man or woman suffering from limerence is in a constant state of compulsory longing for another person," Albert Wakin, a psychology professor and leading expert on the condition, told O'Shea in the article. "It doesn't matter if their affection is returned; nothing will satiate their need for emotional reciprocation."
Wakin explains that during the beginning "honeymoon" stage of a relationship, both partners usually succumb to a pleasure-filled hormonal combination of oxytocin, dopamine and elevated levels of testosterone and estrogen. While this typically lasts six to 24 months, people who suffer from limerence never come down from the state - even after the relationship ends, leading to severe longing for that person.
This can cause heart palpitations, shortness of breath, loss of sleep and aching abdomens, Wakin says, which makes it hard to function in everyday life. Luckily, experts are conducting research to determine areas of the brain most active in limerence patients. Possible treatments could include beta-blockers, behavioral therapy and even a 12-step program.
According to Wakin's estimation, 5 percent of American women suffer from the affliction, so women like O'Shea are relieved to know there is a cure for heartbreak - it will just take a bit more than chocolate.
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