As a woman’s love can change a man’s mind, so does it lead to depression.

An aspect that this piece seeks to depict is that love from a woman can do wonders for the inner part of a man, the psychological aspect. As men fall in love, they will likely be so committed to the relationship and have a strong bond with their female counterparts. He may idealize her and give her prominence, making her the focus of his life. This strong attachment and idealization can cause him great pain in the case of a breakup. Men and women are both capable of experiencing significant loss when a romantic partner turns them away, but men especially are sensitive to depression after a breakup.

There are different stages that a man may experience when the relationship with the woman with whom he is in love is over, namely grief, anger, loneliness, shame, and worthlessness. Thus, the loss of affection and contact is devastating to most men. Some of the men also see themselves as having lost some of their masculinity due to societal norms that have conditioned men to believe that they should be the aggressors, not the other way around. The vacuum that is left by the absence of the woman’s love might also lead to depression due to a feeling of failure.

The common symptoms that may be observed in the depressed man are:
1. Social withdrawal.
2. Lack of interest in previously enjoyable activities.
3. Changes in appetite and sleep patterns.
The hopelessness of the future.
If such or somewhat worse is the effect of the breakup, then he might not be able to go to work or school like an average human being due to severe or prolonged depression. There are occasions when such men indulge in substance abuse or any other irresponsible and erratic behaviors to dull such emotions.

Timothy Fong and John Edward Smith speculated that men might react so because the hormone oxytocin, linked to feelings of closeness, decreases. Some have attributed caffeine consumption to sociocultural factors related to gender roles in traditional society. But be that as it may, it’s beyond doubt that a breakup can cause a man emotional turmoil and affect his health negatively, such that he may turn to substances or even attempt suicide. Turning to other friends, relatives, or even a therapist can help a man heal from the pain of rejection. I hope that knowledge about the psychological factors that lead men to respond to lost love might help in fostering more compassion and reducing the probability of depression. Men can also recover from such feelings over time, and with proper assistance, they, too, can restore their emotional balance after feeling heartbroken.

Thank you for reading….