Bhunesh Kumar

Although trauma, emotional regulation, and interpersonal relationships are widely examined in research, the psychological meanings embedded in popular fiction remain underexplored. This qualitative study employs reflexive thematic analysis (RTA) to analyse Twisted Love by Ana Huang as a psychologically meaningful cultural text. Four interrelated themes were constructed: pain as identity and resistance to healing, longing to be held without having to perform, loving through moral exception and destructive devotion, and reclaiming the self by refusing internalised blame. Results show how literary depictions of love emphasise suffering as identity, desire for unconditional acceptance, moral superiority, and self-reclamation by denying responsibility. These themes highlight moral disengagement in close relationships, attachment vulnerabilities, meaning-oriented coping, and agency in healing. It emphasises the importance of phenomenological and narrative approaches to comprehend intimacy, trauma, and selfhood outside of diagnostic or moralistic frameworks, enhancing understanding of how people actively create, defend, and change their inner worlds.

Gillian Flynn’s novel Gone Girl (2012) is analysed because it explores the psychological case study of modern relationships and exposes how love, ego, and deceit intertwine to distort identity and morality. The research uses a qualitative design through content analysis, drawing on psychological frameworks such as cognitive dissonance, narcissism, moral disengagement, and projection. Using (Braun & Clarke, 2006) thematic analysis framework, five major themes were constructed: deception of appearances, marriage and gender roles, manipulation and control, media influence and public perception, and identity reinvention. The analysis shows how both Nick and Amy build false versions of themselves to gain power and validation, which leads to emotional disconnection and moral collapse. Overall, the present study reveals how Gone Girl mirrors the psychological realities of contemporary relationships, where love often turns into control and truth becomes negotiable.