Love - Medical/Chemical Basis

Love - an intense, universal and immensely intriguing emotion that
knows no barriers of time, geography, race, sex and culture, is a
famous expression of profound affection, caring and attachment.
Eulogized as life’s driving force and clichéd as ‘making the world
go round’ or ‘doing strange things to people’, it is famously known
to blind those it envelops!
This mind boggling emotion is versatile too as it fits in different
contexts – As much as ‘love’ can imply fondness for an object, it
can also be used to express profound feelings in a relationship. One
can also love his fellow beings, or passionately love a cause!

Love can be Romantic, Platonic and Interpersonal.
Romantic love involves intense Physical attraction between the
lovers. Love which is devoid of romantic or sexual overtones, for
instance love between friends is considered a platonic form of love.
Interpersonal love is more like a bonding between family members or
a deep attachment between a mother and her child!

Why we love?
The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger
for bread. ~ Mother Teresa.


Chemical Basis
Hormones and Neurotransmitters controlling the Feelings of love
include Serotonin, Oxytocin, Dopamine, Norepinephrine, Oxytocin, and
Vasopressin. These are released by Brain's pleasure centers which
are activated during the development of Intense feelings of love for
someone.
Other hormones like Testosterone and Estrogen have important and
central role in Lust.

Serotonin:
Chemically, the serotonin effects of being infatuated have a similar
chemical appearance to obsessive-compulsive disorder; which could
explain why people experiencing infatuation cannot think of anyone
else. For this reason some, anthropologists assert that taking SSRIs
(Compounds that increase Serotonin amount) and other antidepressants
impede one's ability to fall in love.

The Hormone of Love – Oxytocin:
Oxytocin, now dubbed as the ‘hormone of love’, or the ‘cuddle
hormone’ is a chemical produced by the hypothalamus in the brain and
released by the pituitary gland, in response to certain
environmental triggers such as stimulation of the cervix during sex,
skin to skin contact, during childbirth or even during nipple
stimulation in lactating women. The testes of men and ovaries of
women also produce this hormone.
   Oxytocin is directly responsible for ‘pair bonding’ - the bonding
between mothers and infants, or between males and females.
   Perhaps the best from oxytocin is its role in defining maternal
behaviour (Interpersonal love). Research has linked the origin of
maternal behaviour to this love hormone.

Those who thought ‘Love’ is beyond the realm of science and reason
might need to rethink. It is clear, the ‘out of the world
experience’, Love, is not beyond the human brain. Rightly, falling
in love is just a matter of chemistry!

So you still think we can't fall in Love more than once? ;)


(Article based on Famous Anthropologist Helen Fisher's Research.)