Dopamine involvement may even explain why love-stricken men and women become so dependent on their romantic relationship and why they crave emotional union with their beloved. Dependency and craving are symptoms of addiction—and all of the major addictions are associated with elevated levels of dopamine.8 Is romantic love an addiction? Yes; I think it is—a blissful dependency when one’s love is returned, a painful, sorrowful, and often destructive craving when one’s love is spurned.
