Going through a breakup can change your brain chemistry
Your heart is not the only thing that’s broken after a breakup. Your brain could also suffer the consequences of this bad episode in your life and completely change its chemistry in order for you to cope with the situation.
A tough breakup can leave you feeling that you’re a completely different person. For the most part, it’s not just a feeling, it’s actually something that happens in your brain. “In the immediate aftermath of a breakup, we’re going to experience these abrupt chemical changes almost as we would a type of withdrawal,” explains licensed clinical psychologist Dr. Kristin Bianchi.
When you are in a relationship, the chemicals responsible for the pleasure and happiness centers, namely dopamine and serotonin, and oxytocin, a hormone involved in reproduction, play a leading role. When you are single, these chemicals vanish into thin air, pretty much like your significant other, leaving your brain craving to have all of them back. They don’t say love is a drug for no reason!
A breakup could influence your decision-making skills
You might have been head over heels in love with your partner and that might have clouded your judgment more than once, but single life might affect your decision-making skills even more.
Breakups are stressful, no doubt about it. Living with this stress every day can adversely affect the chemicals in the prefrontal cortex of your brain which helps you concentrate and make decisions. You start doubting your judgment, become indecisive and unable to make up your mind. Other people are triggered by a breakup to make impulsive and uncharacteristic decisions with long-term consequences, such as alcohol consumption, warns physician Dr. Mira Kaga.
If you find it difficult to recover from a breakup, you should know you’re not alone. There’s nothing wrong in taking some time to “grieve that loss almost like you would a death,” says dating expert Charly Lester.
