This makes creating and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships especially difficult for people with love addiction. The connection between addiction and mental health issues is a crucial factor in understanding the capacity for love in a relationship. Addiction can lead to heightened levels of anxiety and depression in the individual with the addiction, and feelings of powerlessness and being overwhelmed in the other partner.
When to get support
- For someone who isn’t an addict, this will never make any sense.
- While striving to meet their partner’s needs with a sense of desperation, the partner who exhibits codependent behaviors often depends on their loved one to the extent that it can feel like a love addiction.
- While clear communication may feel uncomfortable or vulnerable initially, regular practice can turn this into an easier pursuit, all in service of fostering healthy love and relationships.
- It can be tough for loved ones, especially parents and significant others, not to take addiction personally.
- Therapies such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can help bring awareness to the love addict as they become mindful of their thoughts.
But when these ideas are taken to an extreme, it can be unhealthy for both of you. It might feel like a compulsion to prioritize your partner — or an addiction to love. Love addiction (also loving an addict known as affective dependence, affective addiction, and emotional dependence) is a condition that causes a person to develop an unhealthy and obsessive fixation with a love interest.
Group therapy
But I think there are some reasons to suggest an affinity between love addicts and sex addicts. When an issue arises in a relationship, it mustn’t be swept under the rug but should be addressed immediately. If someone is struggling, it’s important to be honest with their partner so they can understand what is going on. If someone is disappointed or feeling let down or unloved or unseen, expressing how one feels to one’s partner is essential to keeping a relationship healthy.
What Is Love Addiction and Can You Have Withdrawals From a Person?
A 2018 review and case study echoed the link between love and dopamine. However, the authors noted that the cravings and longing tend to mellow over time into a more stable, lasting love. When people say they “have an addiction,” they’re often talking about an extreme fondness for something. Sure, you might really love snowboarding, listening to podcasts, or watching cat videos. It’s difficult to help are those who actually develop committed relationships with two or more people at the same time. They really believe that the only problem they have is deciding who would be the best choice.
In fact, about five out of six people who try a drug will not get hooked on it. So why does substance use become a problem for some people and not for others? There is no easy, single answer, but researchers believe it comes down to a combination of genetics, trauma from childhood, and other psychiatric problems, such as anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder. By the time a person is addicted, their behaviors are conditioned, and the brain changes that have occurred make stopping seem like an impossibility. To help identify unhealthy patterns and distinguish between love addiction and healthy relationships, please view the navigational guide below.
What is love addiction?
“Are you an addict when you jump from relationship to relationship? Here are a few truths about this compulsion and what is most likely to happen if you have not processed and grown from your painful experiences. David Sack, M.D., is board certified in addiction psychiatry and addiction medicine and serves as CMO of Elements Behavioral Health and Promises Treatment Centers.
Recovery from addiction is a challenging and complex process that requires the support and understanding of both partners. Working together to navigate the recovery process and rebuild love in their relationship is crucial for long-term success. It’s complicated, and lust and love and addiction don’t always exclude one another. Endless analyzing doesn’t help or change our feelings, because we’re often driven by forces outside our conscious awareness. The love addict partner is unconsciously drawn toward a relationship in which there is intense romanticism (at first) but which cannot lead to a stable grown-up relationship. In the long run, the love addict will be subjected to disappointment, deception and episodes of abandonment by the person they love.
In relationships where addiction is present, it is common for codependency and enabling behaviors to develop. Codependency is a very demanding relationship, where one partner needs a lot of assistance and care from the other. This kind of relationship usually involves extreme physical or emotional dependency on the part of the addicted person. This dynamic can lead to the neglect of one’s own well-being, potentially resulting in depression, low self-esteem, health issues, and even the potential onset of a more serious mental illness. Sex releases oxytocin, the love chemical that makes us want to nest with our partner. As we get to know our lover, we may want to spend more or less time together, depending on what we learn.
You’re compelled to keep seeking that thing out, even when your need negatively affects you or your loved ones. By nature, we are all addicted to love—meaning we want it, seek it, and have a hard time not thinking about it. We need emotional bonds to survive and we instinctively seek connection, especially romantic connection. The key thing to remember is that in order for your loved one to deal with one issue, they must deal with the other. If pursuing or maintaining relationships is disrupting your happiness, health, or ability to complete day-to-day responsibilities, Saltz recommends reaching out to a mental health professional.