Breaking up is hard to do. Whether you’re doing the dumping or getting dumped, chances are you feel pretty upset. And there’s a scientific explanation for this.

分手确实是件难事。无论是你甩了对方，还是对方甩了你，你都可能感到非常悲伤。对此，科学家已经做出解释啦。

Neuroscientist Dr. Lucy Brown told Bustle about her famed 2010 experiment, in which her team looked at the brains of the recently jilted with the help of an MRI machine. Participants were shown photos of both a platonic pal and a recent ex, and the brains’ responses to each photo were then compared.

神经学家露西.布朗带领自己的科研团队在2010年做出了一项试验，她们通过一台MRI 仪对一组新近分手的人进行了脑部检查，参加者都查看了两组照片，一组是情深意笃的情侣，一组是自己的前任，研究者接着对他们观察两组照片的反应进行了对比。

Brown found that a photo of an ex activated the same brain regions that are stimulated when someone’s going through cocaine withdrawal. In other words, she concluded, love is a drug and it’s really hard to quit. When a relationship is over, there’s still a part of the brain that keeps love alive.

 布朗发现，当研究者看到前任的照片会刺激脑中的某个区域，这一区域与人吸食可卡因时所刺激的区域相同。换言之，布朗认为，爱情就像毒药一样，让人很难戒掉。当一段恋情结束的时候，人脑中仍有一部分脑部技能让爱情一丝残存。

“When we look at the picture of the person [we broke up with], there’s pain, but the main thing is you’re still in love with them. That’s really at a non-verbal level of the brain,” said Brown.

“当我们看到自己曾经爱过的人的照片时，会感到疼痛，但主要原因是，你仍然爱着他们。这种疼痛来自你脑中的非语言区域。”

This can be helpful to know: When you’re feeling awful post-breakup, you’re not being “crazy,” you’re simply being human. 

“了解到这一点会对我们有所帮助：但你为分手感到难过万分时，这并不意味着你疯了，而只是因为你是一个普普通通的人类。”