Understanding these effects can help us to better distance ourselves from people who are detrimental to ourself-care.
Love lowers your serotonin levels to a similar level as people with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.
As a result, we become fixated on our partners to the level of obsession.
Wendy Liu
PsychiatristDonatella Marazzitidiscovered that people in love have around the same levels of serotonin as those with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.
Knowing this, our uncontrollable thoughts about our lover make a whole lot more sense.
This effect can be especially heightened when we are beinglove-bombedby a predatory partner.
Our brains actually resemble those of drug addicts.
Love stimulates the reward and pleasure centers of our brain, creating a dopamine high like no other.
In fact, researcherDr.
Helen Fisherdiscovered that the brains of people in love resemble the brains of cocaine addicts.
Pleasure and pain make love a more intense and rewarding experience for the brain than consistent romance.
Strangely enough, the dopamine effect seems to be stronger in relationships with adversity.
This is why, toxic relationships, as counterintuitive as it may sound, seem to beso addictive.
Parts of your brain literally shut down.
Well, kind of.
ResearchersBartels and Zekifound that these parts of your brain deactivate when you fall in love.
Your amygdala, responsible for yourfight or flightresponse, tends to become more dormant during this time.
So does your ventromedial prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for critical thinking, decision-making, planning and judgment.
No wonder you feel simultaneously tethered to your lover, unable to take flight.
You trust this person more even if theyre not trustworthy.
Our brains have a tendency to blindly trust those we love even those whove betrayed us.
Oxytocin bonding usually occurs during the physical experiences of a relationship kissing, having sex, and cuddling.
