Breakup Advice

One of the questions most commonly asked by people facing, going through or recovering from the end of a relationship is “How long to get over a break up?”

It’s perfectly understandable that many want to know the answer to this question. Breakups can be extremely painful and whenever we are in pain it is natural to be focused above all on when we can expect the pain to end.

Some have put forth a rule of thumb that says that recovering from a relationship takes half the amount of time that the relationship itself lasted. So, for example, if the relationship lasted two years, it would take one year to fully recover from its breakup. Or if the relationship lasted a year, it would take six months.

While it may be comforting to believe in such a specific heuristic, the truth is that, as with so many questions involving complex processes such as relationships, there is simply no easy formula to accurately determine this answer. To repeat what you will notice is a theme on this blog, breakups are not all the same. And the pain of different breakups can actually stem from multiple, and sometimes very different, processes. As we’ve discussed, breakup pain can represent healthy heartbreak, depression or relationship addiction withdrawal, as well as various other conditions.

And even if we knew exactly which condition the pain represented, in order to even begin to estimate how long to get over a break up, it would still be necessary to know several things about the particular person and relationship involved. Just some of these would include:

• Age – A young teenager may experience a breakup as far more intense and lasting than an adult.
• Experience – A person’s first breakup may be more painful and linger longer than later ones.
• Background – A person with a relatively healthy and supportive family background, all other factors being equal, may have a more solid foundation for overcoming a breakup more quickly.
• Character – Certain personalities adapt to change better than others and might be expected to cope more easily with a breakup.
• Other Underlying Conditions – An otherwise healthy person may heal from a breakup faster than a person who already struggles with other physical or emotional challenges or disorders.
• Nature of the Relationship – The more intense and intimate the relationship, the longer we might expect recovery to take.

There are many other factors that could affect how long to get over a break up, as well.

And yet, even knowing all of these factors, it would still be very difficult to estimate the length of recovery. While teens may stereotypically respond more intensely to breakups, any particular teen may get over a breakup faster than any particular adult. While we often think of first breakups as most painful, it is also feasible that someone, having undergone multiple breakups, might be hit even harder by later ones as they begin to despair of ever finding a lasting relationship. While a supportive family background may offer strength to more rapidly overcome a breakup, it’s also possible that a particular person with a more dysfunctional background could be more familiar with handling painful separations and thus recover from a breakup more quickly.

So, as you can see, while it is perfectly reasonable that a person would want to know how long their breakup pain may last, it is usually not very worthwhile to actually expect a specific answer. There are simply too many factors and too many variations among people and relationships to find one.

There is some potentially good news, however. The intense pain in the early days of a breakup may bring with it the sense that it will never end because – as explained so beautifully in How to Break Your Addiction to a Person – it commonly has its roots in very early childhood abandonments. Yet, quite often, this initial feeling is misleading and the pain does ultimately subside much faster than it at first feels like it will. And even if, for whatever reason, you do experience a more drawn out recovery period, you can use it as an opportunity to finally get the support you need to face issues that have been holding you back your entire life.

So, in other words, your breakup pain may not last as long as you initially feel it will, and, even if it does, if you commit yourself to the recovery process, it can catalyze a beneficial turning point in your life that you may otherwise never have realized.

It can be very difficult, if not impossible, to predict which of these paths any person’s breakup recovery will take. And, in truth, we are better off not spending too much of our time trying to make such predictions. The paradox is that it is often when we stop worrying about how long the breakup pain will last that we truly begin the path toward healing.

The old cliche says that a watched pot never boils. And waiting for the end of breakup pain is similar. The more we focus on the outcome, trying to figure out a precise time schedule, the longer the process seems to take experientially. It is when we focus elsewhere – reading insightful books about recovery, engaging with supportive people and groups, constructively working through our feelings and periodically using non-destructive diversions to keep our mind occupied – that we start to lose track of time and notice progress sooner than we expected.

The lesson is one that is true in many process-based situations. A baseball player will not do very well if he spends his time at the plate worrying about how many hits he has. That time is better spent lost in the process of hitting. A musician will probably not give her best performance if she is focused more on how long the song will last than on the emotion of the song. Focusing on the process allows the results to naturally emerge.

Going through a breakup is also a process. And though it is alright once in a while to stop and ask “How long to get over a break up?” you will be better served if you instead focus on simply doing the best you can at performing the process. Throughout this site we discuss and will continue to discuss how to go through the process of coping with breakups and getting over a broken heart. If you can spend most of your time doing the recovery and seeking the support you need to get through it one day at a time, rather than trying to predict the length of the recovery, the odds are that you will get through it both more quickly and more effectively than you otherwise would.

On one of the breakup advice forums that I often read, someone recently requested advice about an interesting pattern in her relationship.

She said that every time she and the man she is dating had a great period of time together, and she began to feel that they were going to become more consistently close, he would, just at that moment, suddenly go into what she called “complete hibernation.” By this, she meant that he would back off and stop contacting her for an extended period of time. If she asked why he did this, he would make excuses and maintain his distance.

Yet, as soon as she accepted this distance, he would suddenly make an aggressive return, calling her often and jealously demanding answers regarding her whereabouts and activities.

She wanted to understand why he constantly repeats this back and forth maneuver. She wondered why he wouldn’t just decide once and for all to either become closer or distance himself. For her, either of these decisions would make more sense and be easier to handle.

Instead, as it is, she finds the “consistent inconsistency” confusing. She also finds that, during the periods where he is out of communication, it makes planning her life quite frustrating. While she would prefer to spend time with him if given the choice, she also doesn’t want to constantly hold off on making other plans just on the off chance that he is suddenly going to swing back to closeness.

Attachment Theory

I responded to the forum poster by explaining that this sounded like a pretty classic case demonstrating the two poles of attachment style. Since attachment theory and related issues are so crucial for anyone interested in breakup advice to understand, I will elaborate here in more detail on what I touched on in that response.

As human beings, as for many animals, attachment is one of the first phenomena we encounter as we enter this world. A baby’s entire life and emotional state can hinge on where its attachment to caregivers lies on a spectrum that includes:

• Insecure, tenuous and unpredictable
• Secure, safe, and healthy
• Overbearing, smothering and violating

Many different psychologists have highlighted the crucial importance of attachment dynamics in early life:

• The very first of Erik Erikson’s developmental stages is “Trust vs. Mistrust”, which revolves around whether the infant can rely on its caregivers to meet its needs without neglect or violation.
• In Imago Relationship Therapy, a system highly recommended on this blog, founder Harville Hendrix lists Attachment as the very first task by which we are tested as infants.
• British psychologist and psychiatrist John Bowlby pioneered the formal study of attachment theory in the mid-20^th century.

The Influence of Adaptations to Early Attachment Wounds

The style of attachment we experience both early in life, as well as throughout childhood development, can have lasting consequences. If a child experiences a secure, safe and healthy attachment with caregivers, he or she is much more likely to develop the trust that forms the basis for similar attachments later in life. However, because attachment to caregivers is so crucial to a child’s survival and development, any failure in that area can be perceived as terrifying and (sometimes quite accurately) potentially life-threatening. If the resulting wounds go unresolved, they can lead to the development of deeply entrenched fears and coping mechanisms that continue to affect later adult relationships.

Specifically, they may lead to an adult who either fears abandonment, fears engulfment or fears both simultaneously or in alternating fashion.

Fear of Abandonment

On one hand, we have the child whose needs are neglected. Such a child may feel deeply abandoned and, in later relationships, may fear above all a return to such a state of abandonment, in which the silence and solitude allow the resurfacing of their buried unconscious pain. They may, therefore, act very clingy in intimate relationships and require frequent “check-ins” and reassurances that their partner is still present and engaged in the relationship. They may also become suspicious at the slightest perceived signs of distance, which may trigger all of their worst fears and memories of prior abandonments throughout life.

Fear of Engulfment

On the other hand, we have the child who is physically or emotionally violated or smothered by an overbearing caregiver. Quite opposite from the person who fears abandonment, this person may, in later relationships, become highly uncomfortable with closeness and intimacy, which raise the fear of being overwhelmed and trapped. They may be so sensitive due to their past experience that even a healthy level of closeness seems to them dangerously suffocating. Therefore, this person may emotionally close up and either metaphorically or literally back away to attempt to find some breathing room and protect themselves from becoming submerged.

Alternating Fears of Abandonment and Engulfment

Imagine a child that grows up with one parent that is neglectful and another that is violating and smothering. Or imagine a child whose parents are neglectful at times and then overcompensate at others with smothering closeness. Such scenarios could lead to a person that fears both abandonment and engulfment. In later relationships, these two fears may repeatedly drive them toward and away from their partner like a pendulum as they are alternately triggered by various events.

And this is what I suggested may be happening with the partner of the person seeking advice on the forum. I suggested that when she is close with her partner for a period of time, he may begin to fear engulfment and back off. But then, at some point, as his unconscious memories of loneliness and neglect threaten to emerge, his fear of abandonment may kick in and prompt his aggressive and panicked return to her.

The Central Role of Attachment Styles in Attraction

Where things really get interesting is when we consider the notion, put forth by Harville Hendrix in Imago Relationship Therapy, that, counterintuitive as it may sound, people often attract each other precisely because of their differing attachment styles. In fact, according to Hendrix, the very purpose of romantic relationships is for people with seemingly incompatible attachment fears to engage with each other, come to understand their fears consciously, and then work to help each other resolve the underlying past issues that created them. In his view, this incompatibility is actually a complementarity that offers an opportunity for mutual healing of past attachment wounds.

So, for example, a person who fears engulfment may be attracted to a person who fears abandonment. The person who fears abandonment would then demand more closeness than their partner is comfortable with. And the other partner would demand more space than is comfortable for the one fearing abandonment. According to Hendrix, this moment of truth is the very reason for the relationship’s occurrence. It is meant to test whether they will commit to healing each other’s past wounds so that they can ultimately strike a healthy balance of closeness and distance with which both can be comfortable.

Responding Optimally to Attachment Fears

So, as I told the forum questioner, her relationship is now at a crucial crossroads and facing an important test of the very kind discussed in “Breakup Advice on Relationship Challenges: Signal to Breakup or Crucial Testing Phase?”

The ideal scenario is if she and her partner can communicate about, and both become conscious of what is driving, his inconsistent behavior – that past attachment wounds are being triggered, leading to a variety of related abandonment and engulfment fears. Then, when the fears arise, instead of blindly acting on them, they can catch themselves in the act and realize the opportunity to build courage and learn skills – such as those presented in Keeping the Love You Find and Getting the Love You Want – to address the underlying root issues. In other words, the relationship can become a foundation for healing those fears, rather than repeatedly succumbing to them.

But of course, for this to happen, both people must agree to partially let down their defenses and at least display a desire to overcome their trust and attachment fears. If her partner is not willing to make these minimum commitments, and instead continues to blindly race back and forth, even after healthier alternatives are presented, she may have to make the difficult decision to breakup.

For a couple willing to work at developing a healthier relationship together, the emergence of conflict driven by attachment issues can actually provide an incredible opportunity. But if either partner is not willing to take a constructive approach, it can ultimately be the test that proves the relationship untenable.

Most of us interested in breakup advice understand that if a relationship has meant anything deep to us at all, then its breakup is almost certainly going to hurt in some way and to some degree. This experience of painful separation is an eternal one and is described by people in many ways. We talk about being heartbroken or crushed or devastated. All such terms, while somewhat vague, are useful and help us give a general name to our difficult feelings triggered by a breakup.

But labeling our breakup pain can become a problem when we begin to delve into the more specific and more serious conditions that can be associated with it. For example, one of the most common specific labels that people use during a breakup is that of depression. Many people, in the midst of their breakup pain, use this term and may even seek treatment for the psychological condition of depression. Some even find a doctor who agrees and are put on anti-depressant medication.

While it is true that some of those suffering after a breakup really do have depression, and should be treated for it, some of them are actually mislabeling themselves – or even being mislabeled by mental health professionals. What many of those mislabeled are actually going through is an experience of withdrawal from an addiction.

When a drug addict uses his or her drug, especially over time, it creates chemical changes in the brain and the rest of the body. They then become physically and/or psychologically dependent on the drug to the point where they may be unable to function without it. Once addicted, when they are unable to attain their depended-upon substance, they go into a state called withdrawal. This withdrawal can be a devastatingly painful, and, at its worst, even life-threatening, experience.

Well, believe it or not, a relationship can trigger addiction and withdrawal, as well. Of course, on some level, this has long been recognized by pop musicians, as evidenced by both recent songs such as “Your Love is My Drug” by Ke$ha, as well as older songs, such as “Hard Habit to Break” by Chicago, which features the lyric “I’m addicted to you baby. You’re a hard habit to break.” But, recent years have brought more support for this notion from those who offer breakup advice in the actual medical and mental health communities.

So how exactly does a relationship trigger addiction and withdrawal? Research is showing – and your experience may seem to corroborate – that intense attraction and attachment release certain chemicals in the brain. And just as with many other chemicals, certain people can become addicted to or dependent on these internally-released or “endogenous” chemicals. Then, if the relationship is taken away, the addict may experience a withdrawal from those chemicals that are no longer being triggered, just like any other drug addict may experience when they lose the substance on which they are dependent.

To more fully understand withdrawal from an addictive relationship, we should also look at what is happening psychologically. Many of us, whether we realize it or not, use intense relationships as a way to bury or block out awareness of painful memories and feelings about past experiences. This is especially true for those who suffered, and are trying to outrun the pain of, challenging family issues or various types of abuse or abandonment in their development. In fact, for some, this barrier function becomes the main purpose of relationships.

When such a person has a relationship end, and their partner is no longer there to help stimulate their internal chemicals and distract them, all of these years’ worth of painful past memories and feelings may surface at once. This can be an overwhelming experience. And it can bring on many symptoms that do mimic depression, such as loss of appetite, loss of pleasure in usually enjoyable activities and changes in sleep habits. In fact, it can be truly difficult for the average person to tell the difference between this withdrawal experience and that of depression.

However, despite these symptomatic similarities, it is very important to distinguish between normal heartbreak, depression or other disorders and withdrawal because they require different – sometimes even completely opposite – approaches to recovery and support mechanisms.

One of the central aspects of withdrawal from an addiction is that the feelings, by their very nature, push the person with tremendous force in exactly the “wrong” direction. So a person experiencing withdrawal after a breakup feels with every fiber of his or her being that the best thing to do, the only answer to their pain, is to desperately try to get back the person from whom they are separated. In fact, the drive to do so can be so strong that it is likely behind many of the tragic “crimes of passion” or “fatal attraction” scenarios that periodically take place. But the additional tragedy is that even if such a person did get their ex back, it would only ease the pain temporarily, while further sinking them into the cycle of addiction.

While it is natural in the midst of pain on the order of serious withdrawal to want it to go away as fast as possible, quick fixes aren’t the answer. In fact, the search for quick fixes is exactly what creates an addict in the first place. Instead, a person experiencing relationship addiction withdrawal should take some different, and sometimes counterintuitive, steps.

1. Do NOT run back to the person you are in withdrawal from, no matter how strongly you may feel driven to do so. Think of the feelings that urge you to return to them as powerful, but misguided, illusions.
2. Resolve to use this opportunity – perhaps for the first time in your life – to prove to yourself that you can face your past and its pain and, with the right support, develop the courage and strength to survive it.
3. Begin to educate yourself by reading books and resources about addictive relationships and related topics such as love addiction, sex addiction and codependence. They will help you make sense of what you’re going through and help you feel less alone.
4. Seek support groups and/or therapists that know about or specialize in relationship addiction or related fields like codependence. This can be crucial, as it is very difficult to go through withdrawal and not run back to the source of your addiction without support from other healthier sources. Don’t hesitate to ask openly if potential support people are aware of important distinctions such as those between normal heartbreak, depression and addictive relationship withdrawal. Ask if they are equipped to help you figure out which one you are experiencing and treat it accordingly.

Remember, most breakups hurt and the pain you are feeling may be simple, healthy heartache that will pass with time. Or it may be something more serious, but widely recognized like depression. By no means should you rule these out. Take the time and find the resources and qualified professionals necessary to help you if these are what you are experiencing.

But make sure that you and those who offer you breakup advice and support at least consider the possibility that you may be in withdrawal from a relationship addiction.