Why does romantic love resemble OCD?
Thursday, 2/15/24.
Why does young love mimic symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the brain?
Breaking research now explains that the near-obsessional state people experience about the object of their love in the initial stages of romance is partly down to the brain’s behavioral activation system.
The behavioral activation system (BAS) is a brain system that influences our motivation and behavior in response to rewards.
The BAS becomes more active when we encounter something enjoyable or rewarding, encouraging us to seek and approach those positive experiences.
It is this brain system, along with a potent mix of accompanying neurotransmitters, that can even push lovers over the edge into something like a manic state.
Mr. Adam Bode is a fascinating thinker. He’s the study’s first author:
“We actually know very little about the evolution of romantic love.
As a result, every finding that tells us about romantic love’s evolution is an important piece of the puzzle that’s just been started.
It is thought that romantic love first emerged some five million years ago after we split from our ancestors, the great apes.
We know the ancient Greeks philosophized about it a lot, recognizing it both as an amazing as well as traumatic experience.
The oldest poem ever to be recovered was in fact a love poem dated to around 2000 BC.”
How the study was conducted
These research findings come from surveying over 1,500 young people in love.
They were asked about their emotional reactions to their new romantic interest, including their focus on them above all else.
The results showed that those with stronger romantic feelings for their partner also had higher sensitivity in their BAS system.
The researchers think this brain system helps explain why loved ones become the center of our lives.
Along with the BAS, oxytocin has already been identified as an essential element in the experience of falling in love.
The euphoria we feel in romantic love is partly due to the flood of this hormone through our brains and bodies.
The University of Canberra Adjunct Associate Professor Dr. Phil Kavanagh co-authors this Australian study. He says the study clearly shows that romantic love is linked to changes in behavior and emotion.
He explained further:
“We know the role that oxytocin plays in romantic love, because we get waves of it circulating throughout our nervous system and bloodstream when we interact with loved ones.
The way that loved ones take on special importance, however, is due to oxytocin combining with dopamine, a chemical that our brain releases during romantic love.
Essentially, love activates pathways in the brain associated with positive feelings.”
The power of limerence…
Early romantic love, or limerence, as it is more formally understood, has also been linked to lower serotonin levels, resembling those seen in obsessive-compulsive disorder, leading to intrusive obsessive thoughts, stress, and relational anxiety.
Romantic love reduces activity in brain regions associated with fear and critical judgment, making us more open and vulnerable.
This suspension of judgment permits humans to see their partner in a perfect light.
Romantic love is further connected to reduced activity in brain regions related to the theory of mind, allowing us to merge with our partner mentally.
The way that loved ones take on particular importance, however, is due to oxytocin combined with dopamine, a chemical that our brain releases during romantic love. Love activates pathways in the brain associated with powerfully persuasive positive feelings.
As the French philosopher Albert Camus once said:
Love is the kind of illness that does not spare the intelligent or the dull.
Be well, stay kind, and Godspeed.
REFERENCES:
Bode A, Kavanagh PS. Romantic Love and Behavioral Activation System Sensitivity to a Loved One. Behavioral Sciences. 2023; 13(11):921. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13110921
