An uncommon condition called ‘broken heart syndrome’ is generally caused by an emotionally destructive or stressful event. Now, a latest European study has revealed that an individual can suffer from the condition as a result of happy events and positive emotions.

As per the findings, published on Thursday in the European Heart Journal, for the first time ever, researchers have associated pleasant experiences with broken heart syndrome, causing an unexpected, but temporary weakness in the heart muscle. However, a number of negative forms of emotional stress, such as anger, grief, fear, and anxiety, are known to prompt events of the condition.

The study said that people generally confuse broken heart syndrome with a heart attack because people who suffer from the syndrome show symptoms like chest pain and breathe shortness. The symptoms generally appear in a person few minutes or hours post the occurrence of a stressful experience.

The syndrome is also called stress cardiomyopathy, however, initially it was named takotsubo syndrome (TTS) by the Japanese researcher, who came up with it in 1990. It has been called so by the researcher because the heart's bulging outlook in people suffering from this condition appeared like the shape of a ‘takotsubo’, or octopus pot.

The focus of the previously conducted studies on broken heart syndrome was mainly on the negative stressors known to cause the symptoms of the condition. However, in carrying out this latest study, the researchers thought over whether happy experiences could also trigger the condition among people.

Seeking the same, they examined data collected from 1,750 people who were participated in the International Takotsubo Registry, a record of people in the United States and eight nations in Europe, who suffered the condition.

Study author Dr. Jelena R. Ghadri, a cardiologist and research fellow at University Hospital Zurich in Switzerland, said that the study findings have widened the spectrum of emotions known to lead to broken heart syndrome.