Intense, Passionate, Romantic Love: A Natural Addiction? How the Fields That Investigate Romance and Substance Abuse Can Inform Each Other

Abstract

Individuals in the early stage of intense romantic love show many symptoms of substance and non-substance or behavioral addictions, including euphoria, craving, tolerance, emotional and physical dependence, withdrawal and relapse. We have proposed that romantic love is a natural (and often positive) addiction that evolved from mammalian antecedents by 4 million years ago as a survival mechanism to encourage hominin pair-bonding and reproduction, seen cross-culturally today in Homo sapiens. Brain scanning studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging support this view: feelings of intense romantic love engage regions of the brain’s “reward system,” specifically dopamine-rich regions, including the ventral tegmental area, also activated during drug and/or behavioral addiction. Thus, because the experience of romantic love shares reward pathways with a range of substance and behavioral addictions, it may influence the drug and/or behavioral addiction response. Indeed, a study of overnight abstinent smokers has shown that feelings of intense romantic love attenuate brain activity associated with cigarette cue-reactivity. Could socially rewarding experiences be therapeutic for drug and/or behavioral addictions? We suggest that “self expanding” experiences like romance and expanding one’s knowledge, experience and self-perception, may also affect drug and/or behavioral addiction behaviors. Further, because feelings of romantic love can progress into feelings of calm attachment, and because attachment engages more plastic forebrain regions, there is a rationale for therapies that may help substance and/or behavioral addiction by promoting activation of these forebrain systems through long-term, calm, positive attachments to others, including group therapies. Addiction is considered a negative (harmful) disorder that appears in a population subset; while romantic love is often a positive (as well as negative) state experienced by almost all humans. Thus, researchers have not categorized romantic love as a chemical or behavioral addiction. But by embracing data on romantic love, it’s classification as an evolved, natural, often positive but also powerfully negative addiction, and its neural similarity to many substance and non-substance addictive states, clinicians may develop more effective therapeutic approaches to alleviate a range of the addictions, including heartbreak–an almost universal human experience that can trigger stalking, clinical depression, suicide, homicide, and other crimes of passion.

“I love you forever (more or less)” – stability and change in adolescents’ romantic love status and associations with mood states

“…In this regard, Hatfield & Sprecher 25 emphasized the obsessive dimension of romantic love. Similarly, Leckman & Mayes 26 and Fisher et al 27,28 stressed both the behavioral and neurophysiological similarities between intense early-state romantic love and traits of obsessivecompulsive disorders. Likewise, to assess the degree of romantic love, Marazziti et al 13 suggested modifying items from the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale.…”

Translation, cultural adaptation, and content validity index of the Juvenile Love Scale to the Brazilian context

“…Cognitive components consist of [1] intrusive thought or concern for the partner; [2] idealization of the other or the relationship; and [3] desire to get to know each other and be known by him/her. The emotional components are [1] attraction to the partner, especially sexual; [2] positive feelings when things are going well; [3] negative feelings when things go wrong; [4] yearning for reciprocity; [5] desire for a whole and permanent union; and [6] physiological arousal (sexual). Finally, the behavioral components consist of [1] actions to determine the feelings of others; [2] studying the other person; [3] be at the disposition for the other; and [4] the maintenance of physical proximity.…”

“…An intense state of passionate love is associated with activity in dopamine pathways of the brain 'reward system' (e.g., ventral tegmental area, caudate, and accumbens), and recently has been regarded as a 'natural addiction' , though with mainly positive effects 5 . However, individuals passionately in love often express non-adaptive behaviors when expressed in extremes such as euphoria, obsession, and risk-behavior, which may lead to harmful consequences, particularly for those experiencing love withdrawn/rejection 5,6 .…”

“…However, individuals passionately in love often express non-adaptive behaviors when expressed in extremes such as euphoria, obsession, and risk-behavior, which may lead to harmful consequences, particularly for those experiencing love withdrawn/rejection 5,6 . In fact, intense romantic infatuation was proposed as a model for studying "normal" alteration of the mechanisms related to reward processing 6 , and has become an increasing topic of study 7 .…”

Romantic Breakup Distress, Betrayal and Heartbreak: A Review

“…Elevated norepinephrine has also accompanied excessive energy, sleeplessness and loss of appetite [61]. The dependency and cravings that are associated with both romantic love and rejection are symptoms of addiction, as already mentioned, and both romantic love and addictions are associated with elevated dopamine [1,49,118]. Romantic love has been associated with both elevated dopamine and oxytocin, while addictions are more often associated with elevated dopamine [133].…”