Love and limerence the experience of being in love pdf

Love and limerence

Limerence is a state of mind which results from a romantic attraction to another person and typically includes obsessive thoughts and fantasies and a desire to form or maintain a relationship with the object of love and have one's feelings reciprocated. Limerence can also be defined as an involuntary state of intense romantic desire. Scientists have found that people in so-called limerent states have low levels of serotonin —a neurotransmitter in the brain that affects mood—akin to people with obsessive—compulsive disorder. Psychologist Dorothy Tennov coined the term "limerence" for her book, Love and Limerence: The Experience of Being in Love , to describe a concept that had grown out of her work in the mids, when she interviewed over people on the topic of love. Limerence, which is not exclusively sexual, has been defined in terms of its potentially inspirational effects and relation to attachment theory. It has been described as being "an involuntary potentially inspiring state of adoration and attachment to a limerent object LO involving intrusive and obsessive thoughts, feelings and behaviors from euphoria to despair, contingent on perceived emotional reciprocation". Attachment theory emphasizes that "many of the most intense emotions arise during the formation, the maintenance, the disruption, and the renewal of attachment relationships".