Is Love Just An Addiction?

And now for a major passion killer of a story…

We’ve all been there, in the throes of a relationship, in which having to spend the night apart from your raison d’être is just too painful, because you’re so overwhelmingly in love. Sigh. 

But are you actually in love? Or could it be that you’re addicted to your partner, you know, in the same way that people become hooked on drugs?

Research suggests so. Apologies.

Yep, according to The American lnstitute of Physics, love and drugs share the same progression. 

'The initial stages of euphoric usage, the honeymoon stage, gradually building up a tolerance and finally the break up and going cold turkey.’ How romantic. 

The reason we feel like we’re so in love with our partner that we can’t bear to be away from them is because the brain has a ‘rewards system’ for when good things happen to us. Different drugs release different rewards hormones like dopamine, oxytocin, opiods and serotonin, however love hits all the pathways at the same time with its promise of affection, physical intimacy and social contact, leading your brain to believe that you’re addicted to that one person. 

This is why breakups and unrequited love can be so painful, because when all of these hormones that make you feel amazing suddenly stop, the brain releases stress hormones which makes you ill and crave for that person... Much like coming off drugs. 

And just how drugs can impair judgment, so can the feeling of love, which will explain why couples suddenly elope after knowing each other for a week, and how you just can’t see why all your friends can’t stand your new partner. 

However, if your love wasn’t meant to be, the same chemicals that made you become so addicted, also lend you a helping hand, as socialising and spending with friends also releases oxytocin, getting you right back on that psychological rewards scheme. 

So there you have it, science being one big ol’ passion killer. 

Let's have a quote from Einstein to cheer us up: 'When you're courting a nice girl, an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second feels like an hour. That's relativity.' 

Albert knows.