Science and Health

Heartbreak helps find 'the one': psychologist

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-01-20 13:03

CANBERRA - A previous heartbreak is an essential factor in finding "the one," a psychologist told Australia's media on Thursday.

According to US psychologist Dr Gian Gonzaga, despite the pain of heartbreak, those who have had a previous long-term relationship were at an advantage in the dating world.

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"Think about all of the things that you do in life where you get better with practice, and a lot of times people don't believe that about relationships," Dr Gonzaga, who has written a book on the subject of second-time love, was quoted as saying by Australia Associated Press on Thursday.

"They feel like once they've been in a relationship that's unsuccessful, they have failed. ... They feel like they're not worthy of love, so they may treat people in a different way that makes it harder to have a better long term-relationship the second time around."

Dr Gonzaga said instead of acting out, the broken-hearted should take a big-picture view of their former long term relationship and learn from it.

People should think about what factors contributed to the earlier relationship, both positive and negative, and what they should change for next time.