The present study examined the developmental antecedents of distress following romantic breakup in Iranian society. This qualitative study used Bengtsson’s qualitative content analysis method. The population comprised all men and women residing in Qom who had experienced a romantic breakup. Using purposeful sampling with maximum variation and based on saturation, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 participants (10 women, 5 men). To ensure trustworthiness, four criteria—credibility, confirmability, transferability, and dependability—were examined according to Lincoln and Guba. To achieve dependability, ten experts assessed the findings by calculating the Content Validity Index (CVI). The findings indicated that the developmental antecedents consist of: family relationship turmoil (chronic tension among family members; parental separation or divorce; witnessing parental infidelity; disrupted relationship with the parent of the opposite sex); maladaptive parenting patterns (persistent blaming; perfectionism; conditional affection; insufficient attention and affection; excessive imposition of restrictions; lack of adequate restriction and supervision; pattern of threat and abandonment; pampering; favoritism among children); and sexual psychological harm (sexual abuse; early exposure to sexual concepts). The results provide an appropriate basis for designing indigenous preventive and therapeutic interventions to reduce the clinical symptoms arising from these antecedents. These implications are directly pertinent to Iranian clinical practice.