I could become a cocaine addict
From Marie Claire, December 2005
"Next time someone says an emotional affair is all in your head, tell them it is. More specifically, in your brain's ventral tegmental area and caudate nucleus, two ares involved in the release and reception of a neurotransmitter called dopamine.
"Anthropologist Helen E. Fisher, Ph.D., scanned the brains of 34 people who described themselves as being madly in love. When tucked into MRI machines and shown pictures of their sweethearts, half of the group's ventral tegmental areas and caudate nuclei lit up like candles by a heartshaped whirlpool.
"Dopamine is what happens in the brain when you take cocaine," Dr. FIsher explains. "In that respect, the rush of romantic love is similar to a drug high."
"When the object of your desire is someone you aren't allowed to be with, that novelty revs up your levels of dopamine even more and activates the production of testosterone, associated with sex drive. This combo makes you do irrational things to get more "doses" of him. You even build up a tolerance: The more contact you have, the more you'll need."
I knew there was an explanation. I said it was like a drug. I miss that high. After finding it for the first time (after being told it didn't exist), what I named "passion"... turns out it IS a drug. Some brilliant scientist should figure out a synthetic version... or better yet, something to block that tolerance from building up. I liked my high. I don't want to have to look somewhere else to find it.
I need a dealer. :)
"Next time someone says an emotional affair is all in your head, tell them it is. More specifically, in your brain's ventral tegmental area and caudate nucleus, two ares involved in the release and reception of a neurotransmitter called dopamine.
"Anthropologist Helen E. Fisher, Ph.D., scanned the brains of 34 people who described themselves as being madly in love. When tucked into MRI machines and shown pictures of their sweethearts, half of the group's ventral tegmental areas and caudate nuclei lit up like candles by a heartshaped whirlpool.
"Dopamine is what happens in the brain when you take cocaine," Dr. FIsher explains. "In that respect, the rush of romantic love is similar to a drug high."
"When the object of your desire is someone you aren't allowed to be with, that novelty revs up your levels of dopamine even more and activates the production of testosterone, associated with sex drive. This combo makes you do irrational things to get more "doses" of him. You even build up a tolerance: The more contact you have, the more you'll need."
I knew there was an explanation. I said it was like a drug. I miss that high. After finding it for the first time (after being told it didn't exist), what I named "passion"... turns out it IS a drug. Some brilliant scientist should figure out a synthetic version... or better yet, something to block that tolerance from building up. I liked my high. I don't want to have to look somewhere else to find it.
I need a dealer. :)