A romantic breakup can cause serious trauma in young people, study finds

Fleeting and ephemeral loves. When we reach 18, the stage usually begins where, after each learning, we become more like adults. But it’s also the age when many young people begin their love lives and experience their first broken heart.

And although it is generally believed that relationship breakdowns are repaired with time (and several pounds of ice), A new study has delved deeper into how young people experience heartbreak and found that the Mental Health can be seriously injured.

So much so that the report revealed that There are people between the ages of 18 and 25 who, after experiencing a breakup, may meet the criteria for potentially traumatic events. which fall into the classification of post-traumatic stress disorder (DSM-5) .

This is what the study showed.

As explained in an article from The conversation when a person is in the As an adult (between 18 and 25 years old), you are in a critical stage where you begin to develop your identity.

It’s that moment in life when you’re not a dependent teenager, but you’re not an independent adult either. The brain is still developing, especially in the area of ​​higher cognitive and emotional functioning, so A breakup can be devastating.

The study found that People who break up a relationship may have lower academic performance, intrusive thoughts, severe pain, and even develop suicidal thoughts. while people around them tend to underestimate these feelings and even dismiss them as “exaggerated.”

To reach this conclusion, the study’s lead researcher, Alberta SJ van der Watt, explained that They divided several young people into three groups:

• Group 1 (Rupture): 886 participants who endorsed post-traumatic stress symptoms based on their most traumatic breakup.
• Group 2 (Trauma): 592 participants who endorsed posttraumatic stress symptoms based on a DSM-5-defined traumatic event (e.g., physical and sexual assault).
• Group 3 (Control): 544 participants who endorsed posttraumatic stress symptoms based on their most stressful experience (e.g., moving or parental divorce).

After reviewing the responses, Participants in Group 1 reported having more post-traumatic stress symptoms than the other groups. Among them, flashbacks, recurring memories and nightmares concerning his ex-partner.

They also analyzed young people’s brain activation when they saw images of their ex-partners and found that Brain regions associated with post-traumatic stress disorder, which are also part of the limbic (“fight” or “flight”) system, were activated.

Additionally, research has found that Young people most likely to generate severe trauma and experience higher levels of distress following a romantic breakup are those who have a minority sexual orientation and/or are not religious.

“Our hypothesis is that romantic breakups can be potentially traumatic events for emerging adults and can be experienced as life-threatening,” said co-author of The conversation.

He also added that “Validating breakup experiences as potentially traumatic can mitigate their negative impacts, encourage emerging adults to seek help, and promote mental health.”