Is it really possible to be addicted to love?
Researchers set out to discover the physiological reasons behind the feelings that we feel when we fall in love. To explain these feelings, they took brain MRI’s of individuals while showing them photos of their new love.
The results were surprising. The researchers discovered that the caudate and ventral tegmental areas of the brain lit up on the scans. What’s the significance of these areas? Well, the caudate area is involved in cravings and urges and the ventral tegmental releases dopamine, which is a powerful neurotransmitter that affects pleasure and motivation.
When you fall in love, your ventral tegmental floods your caudate area with dopamine and then your caudate area keeps signaling for more dopamine, effectively giving you the feeling of a high. In fact, the brains of those in love looked similar to those with cocaine addictions.
This isn’t surprising to those that experienced the feeling of new love. I clearly remember the strong desire to talk to my husband daily — for hours at a time — when we were dating. Butterflies in the stomach, shivers up your spine, and fluttering in your heart — who wouldn’t want to be addicted to that?
