A broken heart (also known as a heartbreak or heartache) is a common metaphor for the intense emotional -- and sometimes physical -- stress or pain one feels at experiencing great longing.Emotional pain that is severe can cause 'broken heart syndrome', including physical damage to the heart.
The emotional "pain" of a broken heart is believed to be part of the survival instinct. The "social-attachment system" uses the "pain system" to encourage humans to maintain their close social relationships by causing pain when those relationships are lost.
Psychologists Geoff MacDonald of the University of Queensland and Mark Leary of Wake Forest University proposed in 2005 the evolution of common mechanisms for both physical and emotional pain responses and argue that such expressions are "more than just a metaphor"
The concept is believed to be universal, with many cultures using the same words to describe both physical pain and the feelings associated with relationship loss.
