Aug 24 / Simcha

Love: An Opiate-Mediated Experience? (H. Milkman)

lovebrainIn an article in Psychology Today (12.4.2009) entitled What Makes Tigers Jump?, Professor of Psychology Harvey Milkman* looks at the much-discussed phenomenon of “love addiction,” clinically labelled “hysteroid dysphoria” by the New York State Psychiatric Insitute in 1979. Clinicians at the Institute labelled as a disorder a chronic and intense form of lovesickness  they were observing with surprising frequency in the course of their psychiatric practice; the disorder was characterized by depression, depletion of energy, and increased appetite in response to feelings of rejection.

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