Can someone literally die of a heartbreak/betrayal?

[ChamomileWind]

Usually the typical reaction is to move on and don't think about that person that broke your heart but can it be so strong that you don't even want to live?

 

My example is from the movie The Mummy Returns

We see the character Imhotep (the mummy brought back to life) as a badass, tough guy.

 

However, this is what happens on the 2nd part of the movie, nearly at the end.

His lover runs away from him as he's hanging on a pit. Heartbroken and in tears, he stops pulling himself up, let go and doesn't care about dying.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaFPj872d-E

Edited May 3, 2016 by ChamomileWind

[d0nnivain]

Anything can happen in the movies. People can teleport, time travel, come back from the dead etc.

 

 

Most people survive heart break but it takes different forms. The most common way to die from a broken heart is at your own hand. Although there have been instances where one spouse passes shortly after their lifetime love has died.

[GunslingerRoland]

Literally is a strong word. But our physical health is affected in all ways by our mental health. Stress, and depression are things that can lead to death in a number of ways whether short term or long term. A lot really depends on the health of the person to start with. If you are in poor health an emotionally traumatizing event may be enough to kill you.

[elaine567]

Imhotep did not "literally" die of a broken heart, he committed suicide in the film, by letting go and falling to his "death".

Of course he probably had no choice as no-one appeared to be coming to save him anyway.

[jen1447]

Can someone literally die of a heartbreak/betrayal?

 

Unfortunately yes.

 

Broken Heart Syndrome

[thefooloftheyear]

I'd imagine it's possible.....

 

TFY

[preraph]

Any kind of stress is hard on your body and depression is hard on your body and can actually change your brain. But the only people I've heard about who died from heartache killed themselves and were also mentally unstable to begin with and maladjusted enough not to be able to handle the normal heartache that all of us feel at some point in our lives, and they needed help a long time ago and certainly during a crisis.

[Methodical]

In short, I believe so. I've read and witnessed a couple cases where a spouse passed away, and shortly thereafter, the one left behind passed, not from an illness or disease. Personally, I think they grieved themselves to death, so to speak.

 

Overwhelming grief, be it from death or a traumatic breakup, can have a profound effect on a person who is/was deeply invested. For some, time doesn't heal all wounds.

[Jabron1]

Only in Dostoevsky novels.

[dichotomy]

Stress can be a killer - usually a slow one which can take years off your life, and reduce quality of life.

 

I have no doubt it has had a negative affect on my health. A year ago I developed AFIB and believe years of stress have been a factor in this showing up at my age.

 

However as others mentioned there have been extreme examples of stress, fear, sorrow, heartbreak causing death - usually heart attacks.

[Liam1]

Usually the typical reaction is to move on and don't think about that person that broke your heart but can it be so strong that you don't even want to live?

 

My example is from the movie The Mummy Returns

We see the character Imhotep (the mummy brought back to life) as a badass, tough guy.

 

However, this is what happens on the 2nd part of the movie, nearly at the end.

His lover runs away from him as he's hanging on a pit. Heartbroken and in tears, he stops pulling himself up, let go and doesn't care about dying.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaFPj872d-E

 

Broken heart syndrome has been determined to be caused by ANY type of stress.

 

Whether or not an individual allows the stress of a breakup to become so severe that it kills them is controllable by that person to some degree.

 

Now, being paralyzed from the neck down or having 90 percent of one's flesh burned in a car accident is typically not the type of stress the individual can control.

[SammySammy]

It's possible.

 

One such case happened a few days ago.

 

Couple Dies Within Hours of Each Other

 

Both were obese and had medical issues, but I think heartbreak was a contributing factor in the husband's death.

[mikeylo]

Happens. I've seen it. Its most common in older people than the younger ones.As we get older,apart from general health , overall tolerance of loss of love can be nerve wrecking and there is little support system after 50 to help get over the loss and people usually have to internalize it which adds up !

[OneLov]

Although takotsubo cardiomyopathy is scientifically recognized, I am not sure there have been any fatal cases reported due to the emotional stress of being cheated on. But I am sure that it can or has happened. This condition is incredibly rare and almost all documented cases have been observed in post-menopausal women.

 

Only in Dostoevsky novels.

 

Nice reference. Poor Folk is so depressing. My favorite Dostoyevsky novel is The Brothers Karamazov.

[Liam1]

Happens. I've seen it. Its most common in older people than the younger ones.As we get older,apart from general health , overall tolerance of loss of love can be nerve wrecking and there is little support system after 50 to help get over the loss and people usually have to internalize it which adds up !

 

Yes. In those cases, the older folk, may likely will themselves to die or simply give up.

[Satu]

"Can someone literally die of a heartbreak/betrayal?"

 

They can and do, but nobody, absolutely nobody, is worth it.

[Girlfromcali]

Only in Dostoevsky novels.

 

Aren't you forgetting Tolstoy and Anna Karenina?

 

Or Wuthering Heights?

[Satu]

Aren't you forgetting Tolstoy and Anna Karenina?

 

Or Wuthering Heights?

 

 

“These violent delights have violent ends

And in their triumph die, like fire and powder

Which, as they kiss, consume.”

 

― William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

[alphamale]

i think elderly people with weak hearts can, and do, die from heartbreak or betrayal

[Jabron1]

“These violent delights have violent ends

And in their triumph die, like fire and powder

Which, as they kiss, consume.”

 

― William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

 

"Love is too young to know what conscience is,

Yet who knows not conscience is born of love?

 

Then, gentle cheater, urge not my amiss,

Lest guilty of my faults thy sweet self prove;

For, thou betraying me, I do betray

My nobler part to my gross body’s treason.

My soul doth tell my body that he may

Triumph in love—flesh stays no father reason,

But, rising at thy name, doth point out thee

As his triumphant prize—proud of this pride,

He is contented thy poor drudge to be,

To stand in thy affairs, fall by thy side.

 

No want of conscience hold it that I call

Her “love” for whose dear love I rise and fall."

 

William Shakespeare, Sonnet 151

[Miss Peach]

Yes. Dr. Pat Allen writes/speaks of this a lot. In men heartbreak can cause heart issues that can lead to it. It's called takotsubo cardiomyopathy if I remember correctly.

[love1336x]

I believe older couples who are in there 70s can die of a heart break when losing there loved one.

I never google the results, but from time to time i'll hear how old man die of heart attack and like an hour later his wife did too.

[JustGettingBy]

Suicide or a heart attack after being betrayed are a real thing. Rare, but it exists.

[Liam1]

Yes. Dr. Pat Allen writes/speaks of this a lot. In men heartbreak can cause heart issues that can lead to it. It's called takotsubo cardiomyopathy if I remember correctly.

 

Yes, when the diagnosis of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy was first announced, the press made a big thing about it being "broken heart" syndrome.

 

The reality is, plain and simply, that any stressor, even fear of flying, can cause Takotsubo cardiomyopathy.

 

Although calling it "broken heart" syndrome does sound far more dramatic and likely garners a lot more press.

 

From "medscape"

 

The Japanese word takotsubo translates to "octopus pot," resembling the shape of the left ventricle during systole on imaging studies.

 

Although the exact etiology is still unknown, the syndrome appears to be triggered by a significant emotional or physical stressor.[

People who are so stressed by a break up that they have a heart attack most likely have an underlying emotional or psychological issue as a contributing factor.

 

A break up of a relationship, should not kill a normal, mentally-sound, confident individual. Also, if a person is that emotionally clingy that they can not survive without a relationship than perhaps that is why the other person broke it off. Most people find clingy, overly dependent, emotionally needy people to be a turn off.

 

Older people, are different. They are likely too sick and fragile health-wise to handle the stressor of their long married loved one dying.

Edited May 4, 2016 by Liam1