Holding On to What Has Ended: Women’s Experiences of Grief After Romantic Breakups

Aim: This study aimed to explore women’s prolonged grief experiences following the dissolution of their romantic relationships and to understand how they made sense of these experiences.Method: This study employed Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) based on semi-structured interviews conducted with five heterosexual women aged 19–33. Each interview lasted 40–60 minutes and was transcribed verbatim. Data were analyzed iteratively and ideographically, following IPA guidelines to ensure depth, rigor, and transparency. Themes were generated through repeated readings, line-by-line coding, and cross-case comparison, with analytic saturation achieved through convergence across participants.Results: The analysis revealed five superordinate themes with their subthemes: (1)From Loss to A New Self (2)Continuing Bonds After Breakup, (3)Post-Breakup Questioning, (4)About the Loss, and (5)After the Loss. The findings showed that the loss experienced after the breakup extended beyond the partner to include future dreams, sources of happiness, and aspects of self. Participants’ efforts to sustain the relationship, ongoing communication, idealization, and fantasies of reunion played a decisive role in prolonging the grief process.Conclusion: Romantic breakups were experienced as the loss not only of a partner but also of identity, future plans, and sources of happiness. Participants’ experiences related to the prolongation of their grief period as an ongoing experience rather than a clinical condition stemmed from participants’ inability to withdraw their investment, showing breakup as a continued bond rather than an ending. Clinically, healing requires transforming this investment and reconstructing meaning, rather than enforcing abrupt detachment.