Love IS like a Drug After All
Published: October 27, 2010
Love is, apparently, like a drug. At least the initial stages of passionate love. According to researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine:
That rush of good feelings you have in the first few months of being in love don’t just put you in a better mood; love may actually be a painkiller … The magnitude of pain relief when participants thought about their beloved was comparable to morphine and other clinical painkillers. (CNN)
The researchers used university students as their subjects, “all of whom were in the “early phases of passionate love,” having been in a relationship anywhere from a few months to a year.” However the researchers are quick to note that “this is not a study about chronic pain, merely pain applied for 30 seconds at a time in an artificial setting.”
It seems likely that just as the initial passion of a relationship will wane as the months go by, the potential of that initial quixotic love as a pain relief method will also gradually disappear. And it may be stereotypical of me to think so, but based on previous experience (it wasn’t that long ago that I was a student!) the phenomenon of passionate initial love crashing into tepid doldrums seems to be all the more prevalent and exaggerated among university students.
Have you ever used a relationship as a way to “ease your pain”? Perhaps this is why rebound relationships (short-lived but passionate relationships a person gets into right after a breakup) are so common, and why some people get addicted to the feeling of those initial moments in a relationship and find it difficult to “settle down.”
Whether you’re a student or not, relationships can be tricky! Check out our Sex & Love resource area for love tips … here are some of the most popular articles:
– Help! My Husband Doesn’t Want Sex
– How to Write a Love Letter
– Dynamic Sex: Unlocking the Secret to Love
If you’d prefer to speak with someone confidentially about relationship issues, contact a mentor today to begin the conversation via email. It’s free, and private.
