Question
Is it possible successful long term relationships may be down to people simply being addicted to each other?
Answer
Hannah - Earlier Alex mentioned another brain chemical involved in love - dopamine. We know that dopamine, as well as being involved in reward is very frequently involved in addiction. So, if love brings on a rush of dopamine to particular areas of the brain, is it possible successful long term relationships may be down to people simply being addicted to each other?
Well, a study by Bianca Acevedo and colleagues in 2012 showed that people who, after 21 years of marriage, and still very very happily in love, when shown pictures of their other halves had areas of the brain lighting up in a pattern resembling drug addiction.
So, it really could be that those that stay in love are just addicted to one another! Romantic, in some sense, I suppose.
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