© Media Credit: iStockPhoto(dot)com
© Media Credit: iStockPhoto(dot)com |
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The latest word from science: love really is a drug – or at
least just like one.
Expanded research in the field of love shows the emotion is the result of
intense levels of oxytocin and vasopressin, which play the most powerful role in
bonding two people close together.
“Some people are referred to me because of an admission to depression or anxiety
disorder, but in fact, once we’d explored issues around their problems, it was
clear they were just in love,” Dr. Frank Tallis, told the Washington Times
recently. “Love looks like a mental disorder.”
According to Helen Fisher of Rutgers University, love is the result of a
combination of chemicals created by the brain and can be described in three
stages: lust, attraction and attachment.
Lust occurs when sex hormones, testosterone (males) and estrogen (females), do
what they do best and create an intense, uncontrollable desire for another
person. Psychologists have found that it can take 90 seconds to four minutes for
a person to “fall into lust.”
Once in lust, but not yet in love, attraction is soon to follow. Scientists
believe there are three main neurotransmitters (adrenaline, dopamine and
serotonin) that get our hearts racing and palms sweating.
With time comes attachment and two hormones come into play oxytocin and
vasopressin,
These reactions recreate many of the same effects as drugs and alcohol –
particularly in the lust phase, during which adrenaline, dopamine and serotonin
levels increase.
Psychiatrist Dr. Donatella Marazziti of the University of Pisa says her research
has revealed that love has the same affect on the brain, thoughts overly
consumed by one thing, as the mental illness obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
OCD is a psychiatric anxiety disorder that is characterized by obsessional
thoughts. In 1990, Dr. Marazziti discovered patients with OCD had serotonin
levels similar to those in Fisher’s attraction stage.
“It is often said that when you’re in love, you’re a little bit crazy,” Dr.
Marazziti told BBC News. “That may be true.”