Can you be addicted to love?

I came across this podcast the other day, and it's fairly short (about 4 minutes), but it talks about possibly being addicted to love:
https://iheart.com/podcast/brainstuff-20922291/episode/brainstuff-classics-can-you-be-addicted-78064774/
It seems to me that the feeling we have during cuddling is very similar to feeling loved, due to the release of oxytocin, and it made me wonder if it's possible to have a cuddle addiction. For dating relationships, I've heard about people who are "serial monogamists", who like to start new relationships for the excited feelings you get at the start of a relationship. Seems like 'cuddle addiction' could be a real thing. I seem to remember seeing at least one or two threads since I've been here about whether it's possible to cuddle too much - Someone said they had a cuddle partner who he spent so much time cuddling with that it was starting to disrupt his daily routine and life overall. It's good to keep things in a healthy balance.

Comments

  • [Deleted User]DeadGirlWalking (deleted user)

    Well it makes sense, when you fall in love you get a rush of hormones and it stands to reason that some of them (serotonin, oxytocin, dopamine) might be addictive enough for people to seek to fall in love again and again in order to chase the high of the initial flood of hormones.

    Stands to reason that humans will chase any behaviour that allows them to feel intense emotions based on chemical responses. It works for gambling, drink/drugs, porn/sex addiction, so why not cuddling?

  • edited February 2021

    Serial monogamy is the fact or custom of having a number of sexual relationships one after another, but never more than one at a time.

    As opposed to casual dating / hookups, or polyamory, where one is involved with more than 1 person, simultaneously.

    Polya ppl chase those feelings, too, but they call it "new relationship energy" (NRE) , and there's a whole psychology for it, how to handle it, while maintaining pre existing relationships.

    I've only ever heard polya ppl call it "serial monogamy", when referring to hetero-normative relationship style.

    Regardless of who, or in what style, a person chases the oxytocin or seratonin high, it can be addictive, and there is a 12 step programs for it. [SAA or SLAA]

  • You might as well face it... it’s a real possibility.

  • [Deleted User]Mmart (deleted user)

    @BellaSera. Ah yes, Robert Palmer. Good post.

  • edited February 2021

    I can see being addicted to the excitement of something new and different. That's how most addictions work . You keep chasing that high until it loses its effect, then on to the next new thing. This rings true for compulsive shoppers, adrenaline junkies , and the like . Pretty much anything can become an addiction / compulsion. Even crimes can become an addiction and give you that eladed sense of excitement , like shoplifting or sex crimes as an example.

  • [Deleted User]squeakytoy (deleted user)

    I've sometimes heard the term "love addicts" used for people with an anxious-ambivalent attachment style, but I don't know how accurate that is (since it's not my style).

  • [Deleted User]Mmart (deleted user)

    I guess I just don't know if you can be addicted to love. The word addiction seems to frequently be associated with something negative.

  • edited February 2021

    Yep, love addiction is a real thing. I'm not a psychologist, but I gather it can be a comorbidity with certain mental health issues or other addictions. You can get addicted to just about anything, it goes without saying. Sex, porn, food, alcohol, video games, exercise, buffalo wing sauce, browsing IKEA catalogues, tipping cows. You name it, and someone somewhere has probably got an unhealthy obsession with it that dominates their life.

  • [Deleted User]squeakytoy (deleted user)

    Sex, porn, food, alcohol, video games, exercise, buffalo wing sauce, browsing IKEA catalogues, tipping cows.

    @Catloaf I swear, eventually there isn't gonna be a single thread without a cow reference in it somewhere :joy:

  • edited February 2021

    I swear, eventually there isn't gonna be a single thread without a cow reference in it somewhere

    @squeakytoy That’s exactly where I was coming from. 😂 The other day’s thread was too amoozing to not throw that in.

  • [Deleted User]squeakytoy (deleted user)

    @Catloaf Alright, fine, congrats on being the cattle-lyst for another string of cow puns! I won't beef at you for it :joy:

  • [Deleted User]Mmart (deleted user)

    The bull is getting thrown around on this thread.

  • [Deleted User]Spock (deleted user)

    @BellaSera Great post! Great song!

  • People can get addicted to anything. Literally anything.

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