Your article focuses on the loss involved, which I think is the crux of the difficulty. When we are attached to something and then lose it, we have to adjust. This adjustment can be described on a neurological level (not very romantic but appeases the more scientific minded!) of us having to rewire our neuronal networks in order to sever the many associations built as a result of attachment. Sounds simple when put like that but we all surely know the agony of adjusting to death, break-ups and even something less dramatic such a giving something up. Change and loss are always hard, but this eventually ebbs as our minds get used to the new scenario.

One thing I think is underplayed generally, and this may just be me and “my stuff”, but in some ways break-up can be just as hard, if not harder, for the person that instigates the break-up, where guilt can be a huge factor, as well as resentment from others aside from the partner and a lack of support. Maybe society is geared up to demonise the philanderer?