of difference if Lauren knows that she’s not the only one feeling heartbroken. This approach is different from that of many therapists, who counsel a more abrupt ending. Typically, the advice is to cease all communication, delete her contact details, unfriend her on Facebook, and not mention her name. But seeing the fallout of this practice has made me seek more humane interventions. I’ve comforted many women who were “ghosted,” to use the contemporary term, by men whose therapists (or wives) insisted that they walk away from long-standing love stories with not so much as a goodbye.
