The Miss Havisham Effect: Exploring the Addiction Behind Heartbreak She must have it.

That need feels ill bring her back to life ithin her! the aching desire burning ithin that leaves her breathless ill send her soaring into

and pacing at night! overrides the notion of logic or self preservation. She needs her fix! that thing that she hen nothing else ill. The same ver" thing that the heavens for that s eet brief period of ecstas" addict! craving hat ill then catapult her to the ground! shattering her into a

million pieces. But she craves the fall! the bitters eet despair of falling from heaven. Such is the mind of an ill inevitable destro" her! on the brief promise of pleasure. Although the most ith drugs! there are alternate forms hich ma" be #ust as harmful. A ne common addiction is associated

theor" has proposed that addiction can even be fueled b" the dopamine response in the action of pining for lost love. This theor" has unofficiall" been coined b" some as the $Miss Havisham Theor"%. &n 'reat Expectations! b" (harles )ickens! Miss Havisham struggles ith the absence of control associated ith loss and grief. This struggle eventuall" exhibits itself in a dopamine based addiction founded in her inabilit" to manage her grief and fueled b" her continued d elling. *hen Miss Havisham is #ilted on her fell in love edding da"! she not onl" experiences the loss of a man she hich she had a sense of control. She experiences grief

ith! but the loss of a familiar realit" in

not onl" from her loss! but from her $...failure to make her private dream a public realit" and to create an identit" outside her private sphere%+,aphael -./0. The realit" that she has chosen for herself has disappeared ith her run a" fiance and the control that she believed she had over her life has disappeared as ell. Essentiall"! it is not #ust the loss of her future fiance! but the loss of her sense of realit"! and control! that causes her pain. )onna S. )avenport continues this idea b" adding! $...the health"! normal grieving process...is not #ust pain cause b" the loss of attachments. &t is also the reactive suffering to having our illusions of control assaulted and the pain e cause ourselves b" tr"ing to protect those illusions%+11/0. &n a matter of minutes! Miss Havisham had her sense of realit" stolen from her! along from a man hom she believed she as destined to spend the rest of her life ith several other things! ith. &n these minutes she is

forced to reali2e that an" sense of control she believed to have had! as nothing more than an illusion. Her loss of control is perhaps the greatest obstacle she has in overcoming her grief. This can be noticed through her relationship hat she believed ith Estella. 3or Miss Havisham! the determining factor! that led her to as her heart. Had she never loved! nor had feelings she as her ultimate do nfall!

ould avoided the horrid ordeal altogether. Thus she raises Estella to essentiall" be $heartless% as not onl" a revenge to the male sex! but as a a" of protecting her from the same fate. &n a cold conversation bet een Estella and Miss Havisham! Estella remarks:

...if "ou had taught her! from the da n of her intelligence! against it for it had blighted "ou and had

ith "our utmost energ" and might! that there

as such a thing as da"light! but that it as made to be her enem" and destro"er! and she must al a"s turn ould else blight her4 if "ou had done this! and then! for a purpose! ould have been disappointed anted her to take naturall" to the da"light and she could not do it! "ou

and angr"5 +1.60.

B" using da"light as a metaphor for love! Estella explains ho her upbringing b" Miss Havisham taught her that love and emotions ere enemies. Thus as an adult! she has none because she as never taught to ith the rong man! embrace them as a child. The upbringing of Estella is a perfect example of Miss Havishams struggle for control. 3inding that she has lost control in her o n life as a result of falling in love she essentiall" tries to regain this control through Estella! in teaching her to not make the mistake she herself made. Ho ever this eventuall" backfires as Miss Havisham reali2es that her daughter can love nothing! not even her o n mother. The loss of control Miss Havisham deals ith is a classic sign of grief that she struggles ith

throughout the novel. Ho ever instead of eventuall" accepting that one cannot control certain events ithin a lifetime and overcoming this! she continuousl" pines her lost love. This pining eventuall" results in her being stuck in place! trapped b" her o n grief. *hen 7ip meets Miss Havisham for the first time! he gives the follo ing description:

sa

that ever"thing ithin m" vie

hich ought to be hite! had been hite long ago! and had lost that the bride ithin the bridal dress had ithered like

its lustre! and +890.

as faded and "ello . & sa

the dress! and like the flo ers! and had no brightness left but the brightness of her sunken e"es.

7ips description of Miss Havisham describes the passage of time bet een her heartbreak and the present. Time has caused ever"thing to age and fade4 the dress! the flo ers! the heartbroken bride. This suggests that much time has passed alread" and she has not moved on. As the novel continues! 7ip visits her continuousl" ith the same result. He remarks on another visit! $There as a clock in the outer all of this house. :ike the clock in Miss Havisham;s room! and like Miss Havisham;s atch! it had stopped at t ent"

minutes to nine%+9.0. :ike Miss Havisham;s clocks! she too is stopped at t ent" minutes to nine! stuck in place b" a sense of grief that she cannot overcome. &n that same visit! 7ip also describes another room ithin the house! $&t as spacious...The most prominent ob#ect as a long table as in the middle of this cloth4 it ith a tablecloth spread on ith cob ebs that its it! as if a feast had been in preparation centre<piece of some kind form hen the house and the clocks stopped altogether. An epergne or as so heavil" overhung

as =uite indistinguishable...%+9-0. The mass in the center of the table is eventuall" identified as Miss edding dress! the deca"ing flo ers! the fro2en clocks! the aged bridal cake frosted in cob ebs4

Havisham;s bridal cake! and serves as another representation for the passage of time. All of these things4 the faded not onl" represent the passage of time! but the inabilit" Miss Havisham has to move for ard. Although initiall" caused b" the loss of control and an over helming grief! Miss Havisham is holding herself in place b" her constant d elling.

The constant d elling! or pining! exhibited b" Miss Havisham is result of an addiction to the action of pining itself. The addiction of pining derives from the chemicals relationships ithin the brain that deal ith re ard< response and grief! most commonl" dopamine. The brain undergoes a re ard<response to maintain social ith the people in our life. *hen these people leave! hether it be death or other ith that circumstances! the brain is then deprived of the dopamine activated re ard<response associated

person. *hen one experiences some form of heartbreak or loss! grief is the natural response to overcome the absence of that person and the changed dopamine levels. Ho ever grief is complicated! and although there is a general idea of hat grief entails! it varies for the individual. &n the case of Miss Havisham! grief hat Mar"<3rances >;(onnor calls exhibits itself through controlling Estella and bur"ing herself in pieces of a broken past. The problem arises hen one does not full" accept their grief! and thus develops $complicated grief%+7ining0. This happens as she hen one does not full" go through the grieving process and

instead fixates on the person the" lost! or pines over them. Miss Havisham suffers from $complicated grief% as never able to overcome it. B" thinking of the person she lost! the brain releases some dopamine hen the person as present! but to Miss ho adapt to their that triggers the re ard<response. The re ard is not as good as loss stop getting this ?dopamine@ re ard. But those to her #ilted

Havisham an" re ard is better than pain. Mar"<3rances >;(onnor has found! $Those

ho don;t adapt continue to crave it because each time ith

the" see a cue! the" still get that neural re ard%+7ining0. Essentiall" b" surrounding herself in $cues% related edding da"! Miss Havisham is relishing in the constant dopamine response associated the remembrance. She has become addicted to her grief! and cannot move on! because the need of the dopamine response out eighs ever"thing else. B" the exploration of Miss Havisham;s character! and a ne theor"! it is evident ho the $Miss

Havisham effect% earned its name. Although dramati2ed in the novel! 'reat Expectations! it mirrors an issue that as and is seen in societ" toda"! as ell as provides the basis for a deeper exploration of h" this occurs. *ith Miss Havishams addiction! as in all addictions! there is usuall" a deal ith her grief as the eakness that causes the addicted person to be hindered in esaping. 3or Miss Havisham! her inabilit" to accept a loss of control and eakness that propelled her into addiction. Ever" addict has their drug of as the needle prick of a lost choice! that one vice that burns them so beautifull". 3or Miss Havisham! it love and the pulsing of dopamine through her veins to her broken hear.