Romantic legend has a habit of introducing dramatic effect by having a hero or heroine die of a broken heart. It happens so often that it somewhat becomes the default cause of death in tales of yore. It’s easy to scoff dismissively… I wager that a modern death certificate with “broken heart” listed as the cause of death would raise a few eyebrows… and – considering the age in which we live – a few lawsuits.
But can you really die from a broken heart? I haven’t looked into this exhaustively, but I do believe that heartbreak is a killer – a painful, painful killer. The Associated Press filed a 1999 report in which an elephant named Damini allegedly did such a thing out of grief, having lost a younger companion. Elizabeth I, after living through a slew of deaths amongst close friends, supposedly died from anguish. I make the distinction here between types like Ophelia and Dido, who ended their own lives as a result of love lost. This is something more sinister and delicate, not prone to rational discretion. Worst of all, it is silent.
If it were one day found that the will to live is driven by the subconscious – the thing that keeps us alive without us knowing it – then we might well have a case for death by broken heart. It is not likely that we will ever directly discern such a link, because the subconscious is (by definition) beyond our perception. Having said that, research at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine has suggested that a broken heart may manifest itself in a condition known as stress cardiomyopathy, a strain on the heart brought on by psychological trauma of some sort.
Whatever the cause, and whatever the effect, if you know of anyone whose eyes have lost their sparkle, or their step has lost its bounce, and you know of a trauma in their life that would shake anyone but the most hardened battler, do everything you can to show them that you care. From the heart.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.