Can you really suffer from a broken heart?
For author Juliet Sullivan, the answer turned out to be yes.
After the traumatic death of her mother, Juliet experienced what she initially thought was a panic attack. Instead, she was diagnosed with takotsubo cardiomyopathy, commonly known as Broken Heart Syndrome, a condition she had never even heard of.
In this conversation, Juliet shares what happened, what she has learned about the extraordinary connection between emotional stress and our physical bodies, and why she has had to reconsider something she had always believed about herself: that she could simply keep going, no matter what life threw at her.
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We talk about grief, accumulated stress, the pressure so many of us accept as simply part of life, and the importance of listening when our bodies tell us that something isn’t right.
Juliet also talks candidly about losing her mother to suicide, the complicated grief that followed, and why writing her book, What Becomes of the Broken Hearted, became both a way of processing what happened and of raising awareness of a condition many people, and even some medical professionals she encountered, knew little about.
Perhaps most importantly, this is a conversation about redefining resilience. Being deeply affected by what happens to us does not necessarily mean we are weak. Sometimes strength means recognising our limits and learning to take better care of ourselves.
Content note: This episode includes discussion of suicide, bereavement and serious heart symptoms. If you experience unexplained chest pain, breathlessness, faintness or symptoms that could indicate a heart problem, please seek urgent medical help rather than assuming they are caused by anxiety or stress.
My book, Ageing Wonderfully Well: The Good News about Midlife and Growing Older:https://geni.us/AgeingWonderfullyWell
