Can you die of a broken heart? 💔 Sleepless nights, excessive brooding, fits of crying: #heartbreak can really throw us off track. But while some people cry through a few nights and then get back to normal, for others, heartbreak can have more serious consequences. Lisa Budzinski gets to the bottom of heartache: Why does heartbreak actually hurt so much? And what can we do when we are really suffering? Julia has also experienced how painful heartbreak can be. The kindergarten teacher was abandoned shortly before Christmas in 2018 and fell into a deep hole afterwards. Julia tells us which tips for dealing with heartbreak helped her in this crisis and why, despite the great pain, she is in a certain way grateful to have experienced heartbreak. For the psychiatrist and neurologist Professor Henrik Walter, one thing is clear: heartbreak is a great state of suffering that also deserves psychiatric consideration. Lisa talks to him about the profound effects that heartbreak can have. In fact, experiments show that longing for a loved one can be similar to drug addiction. In one study, researcher Helen Fisher showed people in love photos of a loved one in an MRI scan. The result: When looking at the loved one, the same areas of the brain are activated as in people who use cocaine. What tips help against heartbreak? Because one thing is clear: it is almost impossible to avoid. Sooner or later, almost all of us have this painful experience. If you are suffering from severe heartbreak and don't know what to do, get help and, if in doubt, call the free telephone counseling number. They're there to listen to you 24/7: Telephone counseling☎️ 0800/1110111 (Protestant) 0800/1110222 (Catholic) ******* CHAPTERS: 00:00 Intro 00:43 Explainer: This is what happens in our body when we're heartbroken 01:33 Julia: Abandoned shortly before Christmas 03:28 Prof. Henrik Walter: Typical symptoms of heartbreak 05:29 Telephone counseling 05:42 Julia: Medical help 07:50 Explainer: This is how difficult heartbreak is 08:09 Prof. Henrik Walter: Heartbreak is similar to grief, depression & drug withdrawal 10:00 Explainer: Helen Fisher's MRI experiment with lovers 10:13 Tip 1: Unfollow your ex! 10:30 Julia: This helped her in the crisis 11:38 Tip 2: Social contacts 11:50 Explainer: Broken heart syndrome 12:56 Prof. Henrik Walter: Even heartbreak has something good about it 14:00 Explainer: Constant heartbreak 14:40 Julia: Why she didn't want her ex back 16:21 Tip 3: Acceptance instead of brooding 16:39 Julia: "I now know what love means" 17:54 Lisa's conclusion ******* You can also find more videos from the Terra X cosmos in the media library: http://kurz.zdf.de/XploreOL/ Terra X on Facebook: / zdfterrax Terra X on Instagram: / terrax ******* OUR SOURCES 👉 Helen Fisher, Arthur Aron, Lucy L. Brown (2005): Romantic love: an fMRI study of a neural mechanism for mate choice 👉TED Talk Helen Fisher (2008): The brain in love https://www.ted.com/talks/helen_fishe... 👉Prof. Henrik Walter (2021): Lovesickness under the psychiatric microscope. https://www.thieme-connect.de/product... 👉Field T. Romantic breakup distress in university students: A narrative review. International Journal of Psychological Research and Reviews 2020; 3 (30): 1–20 https://www.researchgate.net/publicat... 👉 Interview with psychologist Guy Winch (SZ-Magazin 2019): “Hope is not helpful when you are heartbroken” https://sz-magazin.sueddeutsche.de/li... 👉 Tanja Krämer (2011): Addicted to love https://www.dasgehirn.info/denken/emo... 👉 Herzzentrum Göttingen: Broken heart syndrome: Can the heart really break? https://herzzentrum.umg.eu/herztoene/... 👉Gesund.Bund.de (Federal Ministry of Health): What are the causes of broken heart syndrome? https://gesund.bund.de/broken-heart-s... 👉ElitePartner study 2021 (1,724 respondents): How long does heartbreak last on average? https://de.statista.com/statistik/dat... ******* IN THE VIDEO Julia Naumann, educator Prof. Henrik Walter, psychiatrist & neurologist at the Berlin Charité ******* CREDITS Written and directed by: Mirjam Wlodawer Sound: Franziska Busl, Carsten Kramer Camera: Jacob Groß, Jupp Tautfest Editing: Tom Weichenhain Graphics: Ronny Träger Production werwiewas: Gregor Streiber Production: Corinna Rebstock, Yvonne Kalinowski Editors: Uta Meyer-Boblan, Angelika Hoffmann, Ioanna Engel