With some ideas you sometimes wonder why no one thought of them before. Elena-Katharina Sohn’s is such an idea: she patches up broken hearts. Anyone who contacts “Die Liebeskümmerer” in Berlin will receive professional help – by email or telephone. Also at night. Because Elena-Katharina Sohn knows exactly what this exceptional situation feels like. And that sometimes every minute counts. Abandoned by her boyfriend five years ago, the now 34-year-old suffered from a long, bad lovesickness. What good does it do if the same images keep hogging your head over and over again? When your loved one follows you like a ghost, even if they’ve been gone for a long time? If nothing is the same as before, then talking helps. “I have my friends and familybadly strained at the time,” says Elena-Katharina Sohn.
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Advice on call
Around 1,500 people have so far sought help from the Berlin “lovesicks”. Elena Sohn tells 21 of the most touching stories in the book “No more grief, dear!” (Ullstein, 224 p., 8.99 euros). Various packages can be booked, for example, one hour of advice by telephone costs 85 euros, one week of help by e-mail costs 98 euros.
The idea of offering help for sore souls was almost a logical consequence of my own situation. And since sometimes you just have to jump – preferably over your own shadow – Elena-Katharina Sohn quit her PR job. She’s actually not the type of entrepreneur, she says, who didn’t have a business plan but had a lot of empathy. And who suddenly felt: I’m doing something really useful. Today, Sohn employs a team of therapists, psychologists and a mediator, who previously focused on relationship work. Even if Elena-Katharina Sohn almost seems a bit uncomfortable: A trained ear for the torment of love costs – not only effort, but also money.
Lovesick trips to Berlin
And as well as talking, distraction also helps, the Liebeskümmerer organize group trips to Berlin. There, too, the first thing to do is to overcome one’s own shame, because, according to Elena Sohn, “lovesickness is taboo and is seen as a weakness. ‘An attractive, good partner won’t be abandoned’, many people think. That’s nonsense, of course.” In general, she’s always amazed at how complicated love is today. How many great women, when looking for the right person, always end up with the wrong person – or no one. Because lovesickness does not necessarily mean a broken heart. Sometimes there is simply desperation about being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“Who knows what it’s good for” is a phrase often uttered by friends in a helpless attempt to offer a little comfort when the other is actually inconsolable. And yes: sometimes, as in the case of Elena-Katharina Sohn, lovesickness is actually good for something.
