Love has been defined as a complex set of emotions that can make people act strangely, maybe even out of character. But one rarely hears it being classified as a drug.

 

That definition is about to change, as it is now being defined as a complex neural process that has a drug-like effect on the brain, according to recent studies at Syracuse University.

 

Using MRI technology, psychologists have discovered that love affects many parts of the mind, including the parts that deal with motivation, body image and self-representation.

 

Heading the experiment was SU psychology professor Stephanie Ortigue, with help from Nisa Patel, a graduate student in the College of Arts and Sciences, as well as a doctor from Switzerland and two professors from West Virginia University. The analysis has been going on for 10 years, but the results were published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine’s 2010 edition.

 

‘First of all, love is one of the most important concepts in the world,’ Ortigue said. ‘Second of all, mapping the healthy human brain on love can have important implications for mental health.’

 

Studying the effects of love on the brain can lead to new paths of therapy for individuals and couples experiencing relationship problems, depression and other mental health issues, Ortigue said.

 

A study done by professor John Cacioppo, director of both the social psychology and cognitive neuroscience programs at the University of Chicago, demonstrated that love deprivation, unrequited love and loneliness have negative consequences on work performance and mental health. For instance, 40 percent of people who are rejected in love experience depression, Ortigue said.  

 

Joseph Fanelli, a child and family studies professor, said he thinks the research describes the variety of emotions one experiences when love comes into the picture.

 

‘The research shows our beginning experience with love — the lust and infatuation part of an early relationship — when we find ourselves attracted to someone, smitten by them, infatuated by them,’ Fanelli said.  

 

‘We are obsessed with thoughts of the person — it’s an overwhelming roller coaster ride that feels out of control,’ he said.  

 

Fanelli, who has been married for 34 years, emphasized that love itself is also a very complex process.

 

‘Why should Hallmark have all the fun in defining love for us?’ he said. ‘Love is so complex, so multidimensional, so multifaceted, so irrational. Maybe Shakespeare was right when he wrote, ‘The heart has its reason, which reason does not know.”

ajmeaghe@syr.edu  

 

 

Published on October 10, 2010 at 12:00 pm