The words couple may signal critical relationship problems, a new study by American researchers revealed. The everyday conversations between partners may hint that the pair is on the slippery slope towards a breakup.

How to find out if your relationship is heading for a breakup?

To arrive to their conclusions, scientists from The University of Texas at Austin scrutinized posts by over 6 thousand of users on Reddit, who revealed they gone through a breakup.

Researchers looked at posts up to 12 months of prior to the news about people breaking up with a partner, as well as their tests that followed.

The scientists noticed distinct patterns in the language that people used that started to show up about 3 months prior to the news about their breakups. The review of the posts following the event revealed that it took people on average about 6 months to return to their normal language.

Authors of the study pointed out that people are giving away their stressed emotional state without even realizing it via the language they use.

• The language of people who were about to be dumped or we planning to initiate a break up started to change to more personal and informal. This is indicative of a lesser degree of analytic thinking.
• These individuals were using the words “I” and “we” more often, which is indicative of heavier cognitive load, as people become more self-focused.

Increased use of the personal pronoun “I” is linked to depression and sadness. People who are depressed tend to focus on themselves as opposed to others. On the day of the breakup these patterns would peak up.

How long does it take for a person to heal after a heartbreak?

It would take people on average about 6 months to return to their regular pattern of wording in posts, following the breakup. The pattern showed even in other subreddit communities, not only the ones dedicated to heartbreak or relationships.

However, some users didn’t return to their regular patterns of written speech even 12 months post-event. One common thread that scientists noticed was the tendency of such users to keep posting in threads relating to relationship problems and breakups. Researchers believe that constant reliving of the experience was unhelpful to healing.

Kate Blackburn, a co-author of the study, said that it was fascinating to see the experience of a breakup through the lenses of people’s posts.

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