Love. What else can cause such obsessions, cravings, mood swings, compulsions, distortions of reality, changes in personality, losses of self-control,

Love. What else can cause such obsessions, cravings, mood swings, compulsions, distortions of reality, changes in personality, losses of self-control, and risk-taking? Addiction, that’s what. Biologists, psychologists, poets, and musicians have long been at odds over whether love is a deeply spiritual emotion, or perhaps a potentially harmful biological addiction. In a research study, led by biological anthropologist Dr. Helen Fisher, scientists hooked up recently rejected lovers to an MRI machine to monitor their brain activity, seems to indicate that both camps may be correct.

The researchers used MRI scans to study what parts of the brain were activated in the recently heartbroken. They recruited ten women and five men who were recently dumped by people with whom they were still intensely in love. Each participant filled out a survey called the Passionate Love Scale to assess the degree to which they experienced feelings of romantic love. Finally, while in the MRI machine, participants looked at a photograph of their dumper while the scientists took pictures of their brain activity.