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Is love passion an addictive disorder?
Michel Reynaud1, Laurent Karila, Lisa Blecha
1Inserm, U, Paris, France. michel.reynaud@pbr.aphp.fr
The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse
|June 16, 2010
Summary
Passionate love shares similarities with addiction, potentially involving similar brain regions and neurotransmitters. More research is needed to classify love addiction as a clinical disorder.
Area of Science:
- Neurobiology
- Psychiatry
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- The relationship between passionate love and addiction is debated.
- Neurobiological advances enable new examinations of these states.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare clinical, neuropsychological, neurobiological, and neuroimaging data on love passion, love addiction, and sex addiction.
- To explore similarities between love addiction and other behavioral addictions like pathological gambling and substance dependence.
Main Methods:
- Described clinical distinctions between love passion, love addiction, and sex addiction.
- Compared data from love, passion, pathological gambling, and substance dependence studies.
Main Results:
- Love addiction shares phenomenology with substance dependence, including euphoria, withdrawal, intrusive thoughts, and maladaptive behaviors.
- Brain regions (insula, ACC, OFC) and neurotransmitters (dopamine) implicated in substance dependence may also be involved in love addiction.
- Oxytocin's role in social attachment and mating may link it to substance dependence.
Conclusions:
- Insufficient data currently exists to classify love addiction as a formal clinical disorder or behavioral addiction.
- Further clinical and scientific studies are necessary for better understanding and treatment.
- Proposed new criteria for evaluating love addiction are needed.
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