Broken Hearted.......is it for real?

I read an article a couple of days ago and just wondered

Do you think that someone really can die of a broken heart?

is there even such a thing as a broken heart?

if so what is it? obviously a persons heart doesn't split in two!

It's a psychological condition that affects the physiological. Grief can be so overwhelming that the just body shuts down, not able to go on anymore.

At least, that's how I've always looked at it.

That sounds all very simple, like they turn the switch to off! if that's the case why then can people who really want to die say because of illness why then can they not do the same thing? 

I work with elderly and have on many occasions seen a spouse just fade away after a death of the other.  The medical term is failure to thrive (which can encompass a lot not just a spouse's death.)  These folks have spent so much time and effort both physical and mental on caring for the other that when the spouse passes it literally takes the life out of them. I have seen people will themselves to live and also to die.  People with chronic illness can and do will themselves to die.  They stop eating and sometimes stop taking meds and it is not long before the body simply shuts down.

Original Post by andie-joe:

That sounds all very simple, like they turn the switch to off! if that's the case why then can people who really want to die say because of illness why then can they not do the same thing? 

In that case that is the body wanting to die, not the mind simply no longer wanting to live.

If the pain was taken away, and they were healthy again, they would want to live right?

It's the opposite for people who lose someone. They are physically healthy (sometimes/often enough), but it's their mind/heart that wants to die.

When you no longer have the will to live, rather than, you don't want to live because of the physical pain, I think it might be easier to just...go.

That and a lot of the time when you see cases of 'heartbreak' it's someone who is elderly like jkppt said so that might contribute to it.

I think it's a sweet/sad sentiment that someone who's love dies will follow afterwards swiftly enough. I know that if I was old, and had lived a long healthy happy life, and my 'husband' died, I'd want to go too most likely.

I think it's believable.

I know it's completely different, but it kind of reminds me of that experiment where they completely neglected a bunch of infants. They pretty much only did what was necessary to keep them alive, but didn't speak to them and showed no form of affection. I think the majority (or all of them?) ended up dead. Does anyone know anything about this experiment or who conducted it. I know it was a longggggggggg time ago, way before any code of ethics was installed. I can't find anything though!

Hhmm I'm still struggling with the *willing* part i mean if someone stops taking meds etc then that's not willing themselves, well in my head it's not.

I mean to me to will yourself is to use mind over body without any physical assistance or withdrawal from meds, food, is that not suicide, a physical attack (as it were) on yourself to bring on death.

edited! 

There are many ways to die of a broken heart, but you may have heard of Broken Heart Syndrome, which is a temporary heart condition that is often related to sudden stress, such as the death of a loved one. It usually won't kill you immediately, but it's a real medical condition.

You can also die of depression/anxiety, technically, although in a much slower way. Psychological situations often affect physiological functions, and can create physical pain, tachycardia, changes in appetite, changes in sleep patterns, breathing problems during anxiety attacks, addictions to harmful substances, and a bunch of other things that can weaken a person's health. It may not happen to the average depressed person, and most of us are not at risk, but it's certainly a possibility to people that are more prone to depressed states or people that already have major depressive disorder before getting their "heart broken".

And there is obviously suicide.

Original Post by jblarghp:

I think it's believable.

I know it's completely different, but it kind of reminds me of that experiment where they completely neglected a bunch of infants. They pretty much only did what was necessary to keep them alive, but didn't speak to them and showed no form of affection. I think the majority (or all of them?) ended up dead. Does anyone know anything about this experiment or who conducted it. I know it was a longggggggggg time ago, way before any code of ethics was installed. I can't find anything though!

that sounds awfully familiar.  sounds a lot like something i heard in one of my psych classes (like a hundred years ago lol)  only that they were infant chimps and not human infants...  <---i think

i'll see if i can find anything on it, but it DOES sound familiar

^ Yea there was definitely one with chimps, but I'm almost 100% sure there was an experiment performed with human infants. I'll have to check out my social psych text.

I know I've felt physiological pain through-out my chest area, was exhausted, and seemed to shut down when I've grieved. While going through the worst of it, I was trying to be logical about it and find out more about the connection between emotional pain and physical reaction (trying to make the bad physical responses go away!). I found some loose explanations, but nothing that satisfied my quest. I wanted to get out of it and still had trouble, so I can't even imagine how someone who had lost their passion for life is cured while grieving. There is enough mystery in our being that I think it is definitely possible. 

I don't know if it's specific to my career, but recently retired folks pass away. Typically heart related and unexpected. We actually have training now to help us maintain an identity independent of our job, possibly because a connection exists though the relationship has not been confirmed or understood.

Weird stuff.

i believe that people with chronic, terminal illnesses sometimes choose to die - or at least choose when to die.  my grandfather had emphysema; everyone knew he was dying, and the family was contacted and went to be with him.  he held on for several days, until his daughter arrived from the other side of the continent.  he died that night.

i think the same thing can happen with elderly spouses (or even siblings).

but for people who are physically healthy, i dunno. 

we've all (if we're adults, and some of us even as children) been hurt emotionally.  when we lose someone we love, it can definitely take a physical toll.  one of my most prominent memories of this was when i was working in a high school, and the adult brother of a grade 10 student killed himself.  i knew the student pretty well, and after watching her for a few days (she kept telling me she was okay), i pulled her into my office.  i said, "It seems like it's taking a lot of energy for you to-" and she said, "Breathe."  she was 15 years old and barely functioning.

When relatively young, healthy people are subjected to intense grief I think it's the subsequent response that could kill them rather than the grief itself.  Failure to eat and take care of themselves, for example, could mean they become susceptible to illnesses.  Lack of sleep, panic attacks, stress, shock.  If they start using medications or alcohol to numb the pain.

In older people I think there probably comes an age where staying alive is more of an effort than we think it is.  After my 60-something father-in-law recovere d from a heart operation his father, a fit golf-playing 97 year-old, stated that he thought it was wrong for parents to outlive their children.  The following week he caught a minor cold, refused to take any medicines or food, was in hospital for about 3 days and died.  I been convinced ever since that it is possible to 'let go' of life.

Well, if your heart wall doesn't close up when you're born, that could lead to complications, including death.

There was totally an episode of HOUSE about that on last night.

And if Dr. House says it's true.................surely.........

Original Post by jblarghp:

I think it's believable.

I know it's completely different, but it kind of reminds me of that experiment where they completely neglected a bunch of infants. They pretty much only did what was necessary to keep them alive, but didn't speak to them and showed no form of affection. I think the majority (or all of them?) ended up dead. Does anyone know anything about this experiment or who conducted it. I know it was a longggggggggg time ago, way before any code of ethics was installed. I can't find anything though!

Original Post by pgeorgian:

i believe that people with chronic, terminal illnesses sometimes choose to die - or at least choose when to die.  my grandfather had emphysema; everyone knew he was dying, and the family was contacted and went to be with him.  he held on for several days, until his daughter arrived from the other side of the continent.  he died that night.

i think the same thing can happen with elderly spouses (or even siblings).

but for people who are physically healthy, i dunno. 

we've all (if we're adults, and some of us even as children) been hurt emotionally.  when we lose someone we love, it can definitely take a physical toll.  one of my most prominent memories of this was when i was working in a high school, and the adult brother of a grade 10 student killed himself.  i knew the student pretty well, and after watching her for a few days (she kept telling me she was okay), i pulled her into my office.  i said, "It seems like it's taking a lot of energy for you to-" and she said, "Breathe."  she was 15 years old and barely functioning.

 Christ, that is so sad.

Original Post by jblarghp:

I think it's believable.

I know it's completely different, but it kind of reminds me of that experiment where they completely neglected a bunch of infants. They pretty much only did what was necessary to keep them alive, but didn't speak to them and showed no form of affection. I think the majority (or all of them?) ended up dead. Does anyone know anything about this experiment or who conducted it. I know it was a longggggggggg time ago, way before any code of ethics was installed. I can't find anything though!

I seem to remember this too.  I think it was orphan infants but I can't remember the name/date/place it happened.  I think I recall learning that premature infants used to go without being touched too.  They found that the infants have a better change of survival if they are touched.

Here's a vid on Harlow's Rhesus Monkey Experiment.

Original Post by jewelsmcblah:

Original Post by jblarghp:

I think it's believable.

I know it's completely different, but it kind of reminds me of that experiment where they completely neglected a bunch of infants. They pretty much only did what was necessary to keep them alive, but didn't speak to them and showed no form of affection. I think the majority (or all of them?) ended up dead. Does anyone know anything about this experiment or who conducted it. I know it was a longggggggggg time ago, way before any code of ethics was installed. I can't find anything though!

I seem to remember this too.  I think it was orphan infants but I can't remember the name/date/place it happened.  I think I recall learning that premature infants used to go without being touched too.  They found that the infants have a better change of survival if they are touched.

Here's a vid on Harlow's Rhesus Monkey Experiment.

 I have heard of this in the context of orphanages here in the early 1900s and possibly Eastern Europe.  It wasn't an experiment.  The babies were just dying until the nurses realized they had to be held more.

Original Post by clharr:

Original Post by jewelsmcblah:

Original Post by jblarghp:

I think it's believable.

I know it's completely different, but it kind of reminds me of that experiment where they completely neglected a bunch of infants. They pretty much only did what was necessary to keep them alive, but didn't speak to them and showed no form of affection. I think the majority (or all of them?) ended up dead. Does anyone know anything about this experiment or who conducted it. I know it was a longggggggggg time ago, way before any code of ethics was installed. I can't find anything though!

I seem to remember this too.  I think it was orphan infants but I can't remember the name/date/place it happened.  I think I recall learning that premature infants used to go without being touched too.  They found that the infants have a better change of survival if they are touched.

Here's a vid on Harlow's Rhesus Monkey Experiment.

 I have heard of this in the context of orphanages here in the early 1900s and possibly Eastern Europe.  It wasn't an experiment.  The babies were just dying until the nurses realized they had to be held more.

Wasn't the orphan thing in Russia.

What I'm thinking of was definitely an experiment. I don't think they used orphans, I think they forced parents to give them their infants. I need to look in my social psych book, I know it's in there somewhere. I'm just lazy.