HEALTH JOURNAL
By TARA PARKER-POPE
Is It Love or Mental Illness?
They’re Closer Than You Think
February 13, 2007
At some point in life, most of us will face a major mental-health
crisis. It is called love.
Science is beginning to pay more attention to the chemical storm that
romantic love can trigger in our brains. Recent studies of brain scans
show that being in love causes changes in the brain that are
strikingly similar to serious health problems like drug addiction and
obsessive-compulsive disorder.
This doesn’t mean love is bad for you. There is a growing body of
research that shows how love and lasting relationships are an
important determinant in long-term health. And the breakdown of a
marriage or relationship can exact an enormous toll on a person’s
well-being. But knowing that love can make you crazy — at least in
the short term — gives us clues about how to improve relationships
and rekindle the romantic love that first brought a couple together.
“The brain system involved in romantic love is powerful,” says Helen
Fisher, an anthropologist at New Jersey’s Rutgers University who has
led much of the research into love’s impact on the brain. “Everything
that is going on in the brain, everything that happens with romantic
love has a chemical basis.”
HEALTH FORUM
Dr. Fisher has studied love by looking at people’s brains using
magnetic resonance imaging machines. A recent study also looked at 15
subjects who were deeply in love but were nursing broken hearts. While
in the scanner, they viewed “neutral” pictures of someone they knew
but for whom they didn’t have intense romantic feelings. Then they
were shown a picture of their beloved.
Compared with the neutral photos, a lover’s picture triggers the
dopamine system in the brain — the same system associated with
pleasure and addiction. But the brain images of those scorned in love
also give us clues as to why the breakdown of a relationship can
trigger serious health problems. The subjects dealing with failed
relationships showed activity in the dopamine system — suggesting
they maintained intense feelings for their loved one. But they also
showed activity in brain regions associated with risk taking,
controlling anger and obsessive compulsive problems. Notably, the
scans showed activity in one part of the brain linked with physical
pain.
Studies in Italy looking at blood levels of the brain chemical
serotonin have suggested that love and mental illness have much in
common. They compared serotonin levels of people recently in love;
patients with obsessive compulsive disorder; and a “control” group
that was neither. The researchers found that the love-struck
participants showed a drop in serotonin levels similar to those with
obsessive-compulsive problems.
Using brain scans to study emotional changes is still a new science.
But the images signal the potential toll of relationship problems.
“It’s not a good combination,” notes Dr. Fisher. “You’re feeling
intense romantic love, you’re willing to take big risks, you’re in
physical pain, obsessively thinking about a person and you’re
struggling to control your rage. You’re not operating with your full
range of cognitive abilities. It’s possible that part of the rational
mind shuts down.”
The dramatic changes evident on the brain scans may help explain
bizarre behavior that is often associated with love. It can also help
explain why marital problems are such a serious health worry. Studies
show that people in troubled relationships are more likely to suffer
from anxiety, depression and high blood pressure.
For most people, the intensity of romantic love fades with time and is
replaced by powerful feelings of attachment. But understanding the
brain patterns of the newly in love can teach us how to rekindle
romance and boost the health of long-term relationships.
Studies show that trying something new with a spouse can go a long way
toward reigniting love. In one study, couples were assigned a weekly
activity they both found new and exciting — such as sailing or taking
an art class. Another group did pleasant but familiar activities, such
as dinner with friends. Based on answers to relationship tests, the
couples doing new things showed far more improvement in the quality of
their marriage after 10 weeks than couples who did the same things
every week. The lesson is that sharing new experiences with your
spouse appears to trigger changes in the brain that mimic the early
days of being in love.
“We know that novelty and new experiences engage the dopamine system,
and when it’s associated with your partner it creates a link with the
partner,” says Arthur Aron, a social psychologist at New York’s Stony
Brook University who conducted the study. “It creates a dramatic
increase in the sense of passion and romance.”
Write to: Tara Parker-Pope at healthjournal@wsj.com2
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