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What Is Love Addiction ?

Love addiction in the psychology jargon is termed " a process" addiction. Like an addiction to drugs or alcohol there are certain criterias that must be met in order for it to be considered an addiction. If we look at the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorder, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) it breaks it down into 11 categories which atleast 2-3 criterias should meet the criteria in order for it to be classificated as a substance addiction.  The ones that I would like to highlight are tolerance ( needing more and more of the substance to achieve a desired effect) and withdrawal ( physical symptoms one experiences as a result of dependency on the substance). This relates to the love addiction in that you develop a tolerance, where you need more and more of your point of contact to feel better. Also, you experience physical withdrawal symptoms when you are no longer around that point of contact. I believe it is important to note that despite how this problem may interfere with many areas of your life such as occupational, relational, social and etc, you continue to engage in the behaviors despite the consequences. Can you relate? Share your comments below!

Comments

  1. Jeffrey FleuridorApril 13, 2017 at 7:59 PM

    This was wonderfully written and you do a great job of explaining the process of addiction. The euphoria one feels when being with someone which you reference as contact leads to this concept of addiction. The process of being around a person for a period of time then even a day without them can have you suffering with symptoms of withdrawal.

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  2. JoJo GreyApril 13, 2017 at 9:04 PM

    Thank you Jeff. I think a lot of
    People are unable to understand the level of impairment that occurs from these type of process addiction because unlike drugs, you don't necessary recognize the severity as you would with drugs

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