Love Lost, Love Found: Examining Romantic Heartbreak as Initiation and Path to Individuation

Abstract

Romantic partner heartbreak is one of the leading reasons individuals and couples seek therapy. This thesis utilizes heuristic and hermeneutic approaches to explore and gain an understanding of the psychological underpinnings associated with heartbreak and the process of healing. A brief historical examination of romantic love and relational attachment is provided as it affects heartbreak when experienced as a psychic catastrophe. This can be an experience so overwhelming that symptoms include depression, anxiety, or a trauma response indicative of complex posttraumatic stress disorder (CPTSD). This research inquiry proposes an understanding of the embodied and intrapsychic experience of intimate partner heartbreak that provides a path to psychological growth, transformation, and healing through the exploration of one’s unconscious material.