Longing for my desirable Self: A Thematic Analysis of individuals' heartbreak Narratives

Romantic breakup has temporary and lasting effects on individual's psychological health. The aim of this study was to investigate the narrative identity of people with heartbreak.

Using purposive sampling method, 15 participants with heartbreak who met the inclusion criteria were selected. Their stories were collected using a modified form of "relationship narrative interview." Then, data were analyzed with thematic analysis method (Clark and Brown, 2015). After determining the sub-themes and main themes, a conceptual model of participant's narrative was presented.

63 sub-themes and 13 themes were formed during the analysis. The results show that participants tend to narrate the past as failure, the present as suspension, and the future as despair. The concept of the desirable self was hidden in their narratives, the desirable self that the individual had experienced or was in search of in that particular relationship.

Based on the results, it seems that people with heartbreak who are experiencing a state of interruption in their transition, have a kind of rupture in their narrative identity that they feel they cannot repair. The results of this study can be effective in better understanding their narrative identity and possibly creating a psychological intervention for this situation.