It may seem as if it is impossible to be a love addict. Who doesn’t want to feel euphoric when it comes to love and relationships? Of course most people enjoy those feelings, but they are not obsessed with repeating them over and over again and at the cost of not retaining a healthy relationship. If you feel that you are romantically involved with the idea of love and have a problem committing to serious relationships, need multiple relationships, or you stay in a harmful relationship for the sake of love, you may be a love addict. If you recognize yourself in any of those scenarios you need love addiction help.
What Exactly Is Love Addiction?
An addiction to love is characterized by patterns considered to be compulsive involving sexuality, romance and relationships that may have harmful consequences for the one addicted and their partners. This type of addiction may sound like there are no damages involved; but it does have a certain degree of damage associated with it. Like any other addiction, love addiction shares some of the same similarities of other types of addiction. In fact there are consequences to love addiction that can include the loss of a marriage, child custody problems, the loss of a career, and health problems that are mental and physical. In worst case scenarios love addiction can involve domestic violence, homicide, and stalking. Love addiction itself is characterized by desperate hope and unending fears of pain, rejection, and experiences that are unfamiliar. Love addicts may have little faith or feel they have no ability to inspire love. Instead they wish, hope, and wait for love. This type of addiction goes well beyond relationships, however. The pursuit of love is natural for most people, but for a love addict it is more about the ‘high’ of love that doesn’t develop genuine connections or intimacy.
Love for a Love Addict Involves:
- Inhibitions
- No True Intimacy
- Their Love Is Parasitic and Dependent
- Their Love Is Obsessive and All-Consuming
- They Avoid Change or Risk
- Their Love Is Manipulative
- They Demand the Complete Devotion of Their Loved One
You Can Find Treatment for Love Addiction
While the cause of love addiction can be complex and most often is rooted in childhood experiences, some of the most prominent factors are rejection, abandonment, neglect, and abuse of the emotional, physical, or sexual natures. However, there is hope and treatment available. You need to seek care from a professional treatment facility that specializes in treating addictions of all types.
