Why do breakups feel so uniquely and universally hideous?
They make you question yourself and your ability to maintain a relationship. You grieve the loss of the person who – until now – was the closest to you. It is, at least initially, a bleak space to be.
Recently, social research was revealed about the way men and women deal with being dumped differently. Women take it harder at first, it said, but recover faster. Men never truly get over it.
As a couples’ therapist, I have personally witnessed the way men and women deal with, and express, their emotions.
The end of a loving relationship is akin to coming off an addictive drug, and male and female coping mechanisms do often appear to follow slightly different paths.
But why is that? And what other patterns can be seen when it comes to quitting a relationship for good?
Several large-scale studies show women initiate break-ups more often than men. They are also more likely to end a relationship over emotional infidelity. For men it’s the reverse: they are more likely to end things over sexual infidelity.