Book Review: Heartbreak

Heartbreak: New Approaches to Healing - Recovering from Lost Love and Mourning by Ginette Paris
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Heartbreak is common occurrence, a shared experience as part of the human condition. The thing is, when we experience it, we are sure that we are the only one, or at least we are the worst example of it. We are not of course, and the way your brain processes this type of loss can greatly affect future relationships. How do we move past our greatest traumas, and not only survive but thrive?

I am a social worker, and deal with clients who experience grief, loss, heartbreak and trauma. I LOVED this text, and at certain points - particularly when talking about “Big Mommy” and staying in an infantile state rather than moving past your grief - made me quite literally applaud. I think that while academic, this is written in an easily accessible, conversational style that anyone can understand. Indeed, I think it is quite critical for those of us in the helping professions read this because I have noticed that we are increasingly dealing with an anxious, coddled, and overwrot society who cannot seem to move past a victimized state. While acknowledging the importance of neuroscience and medicine, Paris rightly points out that we must bring in metaphor and and your personal GPS from a more humanities angle in order to place ourselves and therefore move from the state we are wallowing in. I think that we can all benefit from this clear and concise information and implement it for a variety of heartbreaking events, both as counselors and as run of the mill, heartbroke humans. Nice work.


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