THE NEUROSCIENCE OF A BREAKUP

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
Welcome to the Psychology of Romance podcast, where doctor Carlos discusses the latest research
and insight on relationships. Now here'syour host, Doctor Carlos. What happens

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to you during a breakup? Well, it shouldn't be no shocker. The
breakups or emotion and we're not juststating the obvious. They prompt a surge
of activity in the amignal of thethreat center, which is the part of
the brain that also regulates emotions andattaches these emotions to our memories, certain
types of memories, especially painful andsalient memories. Not only does this make

(00:52):
breakup pain feel more intense than usual, but also triggers your bodies fight or
flight response the sympathetic nervous system.One of the questions that pops up in
a lot of people's heads are isthis person avoiding me? And this will
fire up the amigula because there's asense of danger that you'll propel us to.
Some would call it survival mode.It's really a separation anxiety that kicks

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in the loss that could be potentiallythere and at all that. A survival
mode doesn't have to be just aphysical threat. It can also be an
emotional threat the same part of thebrain that's most active doing a breakup.
It senses you're in danger and pumpsout stress hormones like cortisol. You'll also
less likely to make rational decisions becausethe pre final cortex where you make your

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decisions and irrational thinking and regulate emotionsand anticipate consequences and impulse control gets challenged.
Actually, some say it would behijacked by the amigula, making your
decisions not so good, and itcan lead to impulsive behavior. This is
why some people will all of asudden max out their credit cards or do
things they shouldn't want to sh shouldn'tbe doing. Because of this. Your

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body also releases a lot of hormones, as we mentioned, cortisol being one
of them, but dopamine and oxytocincan also go in different directions. Dopamine
levels tend to decline, resulting indecreased feelings of pleasure in reward, not
getting as much pleasure out of thingsthat used to give you pleasure. During
this time, oxy level to oxytocinlevels will also decrease, leading to feelings

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of loneliness and cortisol levels will goup and this can cause a lot of
issues physiologically, and it can alsolead to addictive behavior. In a study
that was done fifteen people, whichis a small sample size, who hadn't
gone over their breakup, we're studiedin MRI. The scans show that brain
reaches associated with cravings and addiction,often linked with cocaine and nicotine, lit

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up like a Christmas tree. Sophysiological responses are very normal and even when
you have a breakup that can seeit clearly. Best things to do exercise,
eat well, meditate, do thingsthat make you happy in a moderate
way. Get better and we'll getmore sleep. Hang out with friends,

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develop a support system. All thesethings can help you endure a nasty break up.