Early-Stage Intense Romantic Love

One of the ideas Professor brown presented  that stood out to me the most occurred in her first few slides. she used particular terminology for the list of behavioral changes and emotions that occur upon entering early stage intense romantic love, she used the word symptom.  earlier in the year we had played with the idea that love can be an like and addiction, changing the way that we think. Dr.Browns hypothesis supports what we had discussed,  the idea that love is an ailment something that intrudes and messes with our psychological homeostasis. this is not only evident in Dr.Browns Hypothesis but it is ever present in the arts. Dr. Brown also told us that love is not an emotion, but rather is primarily associated with motivational systems in the brain.Branching off  from that idea, motivational drive/craving felt by people involved in early stage intense romantic love brings to mind the cliche yet partly truthful  phrase " distance makes the heart grow founder." This is present  in classic love stories like Romeo and Juliet and in more modern films like Before Sunset. With distance the craving becomes more intrusive, kind of like when one is thirsty and being deprived of water. The dopamine levels in the brain are directly connected to the level of excitement in the relationship. couples that engage in arousing activities that are new for both members in the relationship, can renew excitement in the relationship  its safe to say this directly relates back to the idea of distance causes a stronger longing, couples will have high dopamine levels if both are only allowed to indulge in the other within a limit. characters like The Bad Girl and Concheta had the right idea  when thy deprived there lovers of the "water" making their thirst that much stronger.  these women wanted to prevent the early stage intense romantic love from expiring. they wanted their men to continue to be addicted to their love. with that said, there is another question to be asked. In Dr.Browns study there were the participants who were later asked follow up questions and were no longer in a relationship;were they truly in love with the person or were are they purely interested in euphoric high?  these people lack the suppression of social judgement towards their partner and suppression of the concept of the self. did this people feel the attraction but maintained the relationship purely for the feeling of being in love but not for the love of the other person. Dr. Brown mentioned that not everyone has experienced love and not everyone will. There are people who look for love but do not seek to find what to love in another person. I deem these people love Junnkies, addicted to the feeling and will do anything to achieve it but actually falling in love. these are the kinds of people who go n the bacholor and break-up after the high goes away- because there is nothing left for them in that relationship. In the words of Mumford and Sons "How fickle my heart and how woozy my eyes..."-awaken my soul