Complex with Kimberley Wilson How can you mend a broken heart?
Feb 10, 2026
Anna Mathur, psychotherapist, author and speaker who brings therapy-room tools to real-life heartbreak. Short, human stories about humiliation, shame and why heartbreak feels physically painful. Practical ideas on time, self-care and riding emotional waves. Conversation about growth, art and how new experiences slowly reweave identity after loss.
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Anna's First Breakup At Sixteen
- Anna Mathur recalls her first heartbreak at 16 after a two-year relationship that disrupted sleep, appetite, and social life.
- She describes being 'bowled over' by grief's enormity and how it shaped future relationship thinking.
Heartbreak Feels Like Physical Pain
- Heartbreak is experienced as physical pain because it's the loss or disruption of love that previously regulated our emotional safety.
- Anna Mathur links this to sudden plunges, humiliation, and identity reconfiguration when a foundational relationship or dream ruptures.
Heartbreak Has Measurable Biological Effects
- Psychological heartbreak activates brain regions for physical pain and can produce measurable bodily effects like disrupted sleep, appetite, cortisol changes, and even takotsubo cardiomyopathy.
- Kimberley Wilson and Anna Mathur highlight research and medical terms to show heartbreak's biological impact.