The answer is Dopamine. A drug like chemical that pulsates the body in search of pleasure. The dopamine-driven reward loop triggers a rush of euphoric drug-like highs when chasing a crush and the desire to experience them repeatedly.
If you can't stop obsessing over someone, you may have developed obsessive love disorder. This personality disorder is a condition in which a person becomes obsessed with another individual. These obsessive feelings can interrupt your day to day functioning and cause serious damage to relationships with others.
Ongoing anxiety or stress, or being part of a stressful event like a car accident or starting a new job, could trigger OCD or make it worse. Pregnancy or giving birth can sometimes trigger perinatal OCD.
Many people who experience obsessions show a genetic predisposition to it. One thought is that obsessions may be something that we inherit through our DNA. Other experts think there may be chemical differences within some peoples' brains that might make you more likely to have obsessions.
An addiction to a person involves obsessive thoughts about the relationship, feelings of hope, anticipation, waiting, confusion, and desperation. Addictive relationships are toxic and very powerful. Healthy relationships do not involve constant drama and continual feelings of longing.
Obsessions are unwelcome thoughts, images, urges, worries or doubts that repeatedly appear in your mind. They can make you feel very anxious (although some people describe it as 'mental discomfort' rather than anxiety).
Obsessive love is more about control and extreme thoughts and emotions. Health professionals don't widely diagnose obsessive love disorder, as it's not in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). Even so, obsessive love disorder is real.
Obsessive love is thought to sometimes have its roots in childhood trauma and may begin at first sight; it may persist indefinitely, sometimes requiring psychotherapy. The disorder most commonly associated with obsessive love is borderline personality disorder.
Movies try to convince us we'll feel this way forever, but the intense romance has an expiration date for everyone. Expect the passion to last two to three years at most, says Dr. Fred Nour, a neurologist in Mission Viejo, California, and author of the book “True Love: How to Use Science to Understand Love.”
Love is a feeling when a person wants the best for the one he loves, and always wants them to be happy, even if they are not part of his life. On the other hand, obsession is a crazy feeling where the person wants the other to be his or her's only.
According to a study by the Journal of Neurophysiology, romantic rejection stimulates the same part of the brain as addiction, motivation, and cravings.
The difference between love and obsession can be measured by the extent of your partner's possessiveness. In love, a little possessiveness is natural. But obsessive love does not work that way. An obsessive partner will show over-possessiveness and constantly feel scared of losing you to someone else.
Relationship OCD, also known as Relationship Substantiation or ROCD, is a subset of OCD in which sufferers are consumed with doubts about their relationship. They question their love for their partner, their attraction to their partner, their compatibility with their partner, and their partner's love for them.
People who are distressed by recurring, unwanted, and uncontrollable thoughts or who feel driven to repeat specific behaviors may have obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The thoughts and behaviors that characterize OCD can interfere with daily life, but treatment can help people manage their symptoms.
Not surprisingly, OCD is commonly associated with depression. After all, OCD is a depressing problem and it is easy to understand how one could develop clinical depression when your daily life consists of unwanted thoughts and urges to engage in senseless and excessive behaviors (rituals).
Compulsions are considered a coping mechanism, which neutralize anxiety or reduce the likelihood that these fears will be realized.
There are five main types of obsessions: perfectionism (often related to symmetry, organization, or rules), relational (doubts or worries about a relationship, typically a significant other), contamination, causing harm, and unwanted intrusive thoughts (often with sexual or violent themes).
Infatuation syndrome can occur anytime to anyone and, unfortunately, looks a lot like love. Our brain chemistry gives off a falling-in-love experience. When we meet someone attractive, our limbic system is flooded with powerful chemicals.
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental health condition where a person has obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviours. OCD can affect men, women and children.