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Is Love Anything More than an Oxytocin Addiction?
- Thread starter Sunstone
- Start date
Some varieties of love certainly look a lot like addictions.
Yup. Right down to the denial by the addicted person that the addicted person is addicted.
Politesse
Amor Vincit Omnia
Are you under the impression that love only refers to the emotional highs of an early romance? My wife share a commitment that goes a bit beyond just making each other feel good every once in a while. If one were in an addictive relationship, one would constantly be after those good feelings, and I will admit many relationships fall into that pattern. But certainly not all of them.
Kathryn
It was on fire when I laid down on it.
Depends on your definition of the word "love." There are many types of love, but in this case I'll assume you're talking about romantic love.
The mature love between adults over years and decades doesn't rely on chemical "fixes," at least not in my opinion. I say this because mature love and commitment doesn't always "feel good." It requires hard realities like personal sacrifice, selflessness, patience, grace, and mercy. I doubt that the man feeding his Alzheimer-stricken wife at the nursing home on his lunch break every day is enjoying a Dopamine high. The wife sitting in the car waiting on her husband to find his keys (like he does EVERY SINGLE SUNDAY MORNING) isn't awash with chemical love either.
Chemical responses in our brains of course play a part in our human experience of love - and hate, and affection, and fear. But character interacts with these chemicals, and that's what differentiates us from the rest of the animal kingdom.
The mature love between adults over years and decades doesn't rely on chemical "fixes," at least not in my opinion. I say this because mature love and commitment doesn't always "feel good." It requires hard realities like personal sacrifice, selflessness, patience, grace, and mercy. I doubt that the man feeding his Alzheimer-stricken wife at the nursing home on his lunch break every day is enjoying a Dopamine high. The wife sitting in the car waiting on her husband to find his keys (like he does EVERY SINGLE SUNDAY MORNING) isn't awash with chemical love either.
Chemical responses in our brains of course play a part in our human experience of love - and hate, and affection, and fear. But character interacts with these chemicals, and that's what differentiates us from the rest of the animal kingdom.
Oh, but then the person making such points is often also in denial that such points are actually a point.
Since when does oxytocin have anything to do with the "emotional highs of an early romance"? You are obviously thinking of other neurochemicals. Not oxytocin, which the OP referred to.
Are you seriously suggesting that humans have emotions which are not based on neurochemicals? If so, on what grounds -- other than a fantastic ignorance of neurobiology -- do you base your claim?
Kilgore Trout
Misanthropic Humanist
Everything can be boiled down to our brains seeking chemicals which bring about desired feelings.
Yes, most people would probably assume they are addicted to someone -- some person -- rather than to a neurochemical. Good point.
Good point. It probably has some application to addictive/abusive relationships.
Politesse
Amor Vincit Omnia
Including, for instance, your sense of certainty that this must be the case?
Good point. It seems that every feeling (i.e. emotion) humans have is the product of some neurochemical or combination of neurochemicals. This certainly does not preclude those feelings having profound meaning for us.
The precise path of causation of emotions is very complex, and -- so far as I know -- not entirely understood. But what we do know is that neurochemicals play a key role. That is, we might not know their precise role, but we know that without neurochemicals there are no emotions.
As to what causes the release of a neurochemical, I think there are three possibilities. First, there might be something in one's external environment that prompts a release. For instance, you see a snake and your body releases testosterone. But internal or cognitive stimulus can also prompt the release of neurochemicals. e.g. Thinking about a loved one can cause the release of oxytocin. And lastly, there seems to be some evidence that neurochemicals are sometimes released either for reasons we don't understand or randomly.
The above allows for some quite complex causal pathways.
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Kilgore Trout
Misanthropic Humanist
Indeed - and even feelings of profound meaning are caused by those neurochemicals.
Midnight Pete
Well-Known Member
Love is more than an oxytocin addiction because to experience love, one need not be an oxytocin user. Is love really that much of a mystery to you? Are you not human?
sandandfoam
Veteran Member
No theory of emotion has satisfactorily located emotion within the person.
Your confidence in asserting your view suggests you believe yourself to be ahead of emotion theorists. Congratulations.