Dormivigilia

Before there was this (I apologize for the awfulness and increasing popularity of this song)

There was (thankfully) this: Research showing that being in and out of love is physiologically comparable to being “high” and addicted to drugs

Even if the current music industry proclaims otherwise:

This study, published in and featured on NCBI ROFL, astutely describes the physiology of falling in love, being addicted to love, and being withdrawn from love and accurately parallels it with the chronology of drug addiction.

To quote the abstract: “There are no recognized definitions or diagnostic criteria for “love addiction,” but its phenomenology has some similarities to substance dependence: euphoria and unrestrained desire in the presence of the love object or associated stimuli (drug intoxication); negative mood, anhedonia, and sleep disturbance when separated from the love object (drug withdrawal); focused attention on and intrusive thoughts about the love object; and maladaptive or problematic patterns of behavior (love relation) leading to clinically significant impairment or distress, with pursuit despite knowledge of adverse consequences. Limited animal and human studies suggest that brain regions (e.g., insula, anterior cingulated [ACC], orbitofrontal [OFC]) and neurotransmitters (dopamine) that mediate substance dependence may also be involved with love addiction (as for PG).”

Additionally, similar to drug addiction, there are several documentations of “love gone wrong;” jealousy over love leading to death, such “perpetrators” like OJ and victims like Chris Henry.

This study suggests that there is no specific drug reward center(s) of the brain that discriminates between drug and non-drug rewards, but rather integrates any general reward (food, sex, drugs, exercise) and modulates dopamine release accordingly. I wonder if exercise is an appropriate non-pharmacological treatment for love addiction much like it is in curbing alcohol use as my lab has shown. Though I was unable to find appropriate citations on Google Scholar, I wonder if there exists a co-morbidity between sexual and drug addictions?? This would further suggest of a non-drug specific reward system.In the meantime, perhaps some of the same pharmacological agents used to treat drug addiction (antidepressants, dopamine, and glutamate-specific targets) can suppress and/or prevent pathological love.

Reynaud, M., Karila, L., Blecha, L., & Benyamina, A. (2010). Is Love Passion an Addictive Disorder? The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse DOI: 10.3109/00952990.2010.495183