Having a new crush can feel fantastic. You look forward to seeing them and feel energized, even euphoric, when you spend time together. Depending on the situation, there might even be a chance that the feelings are mutual. When your relationship with your crush doesn't go anywhere, you might feel, well,crushed.
Your feelings don't fade
One sign that this is more than a crush: "Your feelings don't dissipate over time but get stronger and deeper," says Irina Firstein, LCSW. So basically, if you've been feeling this way about your special person for a looong time, it's definitely possible that you're in love.
When you have a crush on someone, the levels of dopamine in your body are elevated, causing feelings of both exhilaration and anxiety. See, you can thank dopamine for the way that your heart beats out of your chest and your hand trembles when you try to talk to her.
Liking is more of being attracted to the non-physical attributes of the person (like his or her personality) while having a crush on someone is more of being attracted to his or her looks. 2. Liking is more inclined for friendship as compared to crushes which are more inclined to developing romantic feelings.
Here's each phase explained: Stage 1: Butterflies. Is anything better than that fluttery feeling you get when you're first falling for someone new? This kind of obsessive thinking about someone and the state of your relationship is "happy anxiety," according to eHarmony.
When you spend time with someone and share vulnerabilities, it's easy to develop feelings of closeness and attraction. These positive feelings can develop into a crush, even when the other person is romantically unavailable. Traits such as kindness, intelligence, and a great sense of humor can fuel a crush.
That's because feelings of a crush and feelings of love release the mood-boosting hormones dopamine and oxytocin to the brain, Stephanie Cacioppo, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at The University of Chicago, told INSIDER.
It starts with a crush
That first spark of attraction ignites a region buried deep inside the brain called the ventral tegmental area, or VTA. Recognizing a potential reward in the making, the VTA begins producing a chemical called dopamine, often called the “feel-good” neurotransmitter.
Because crushes can happen for so many different reasons, and often start without us realising –which is why developing a crush on someone when you're already in a relationship can often take you by surprise and leave you wondering whether something isn't seriously wrong.
Crushes are healthy!
On the flip side, an unhealthy infatuation is not recommended. An infatuation is different than a crush because, with a crush, you have enough data about the person to know who they are, whether this means you have personally spent time with them or you know someone who has.
Philophobia is an overwhelming and unreasonable fear of falling in love, beyond just a typical apprehensiveness about it. The phobia is so intense that it interferes with your life. Symptoms can vary from person to person.
In reality, according to psychologists, a typical crush usually lasts for FOUR MONTHS. If the feeling persists, what you feel is what we like to call, “being in love.”
If you're someone who spends too much time imagining that 'perfect' person and you want to break that pattern, psychologist Dr Jarrod White says you should first accept that this behaviour is normal. "It's something that a lot of people go through."
Researchers have scanned the brains of people who are madly in love and found a heavy surge of dopamine, a neurotransmitter in the brain's reward system that helps people feel pleasure. Dopamine, along with other chemicals, gives us that energy, focus, and obsession we feel when we're wild about someone.
Consider crushes are of two kinds – identity crushes and romantic crushes.
What are the three types of crushes? Identity crushes, romantic crushes, and celebrity crushes. Why are crushes important?
Now that you know for sure you have a crush on this person, next comes infatuation (Connolly, et al., 2013). And for many of us, this is the best part about having a crush because when you're infatuated with someone, your whole world starts to change.
And it turns out that for most people it happens when they're quite young, with 55 percent of people saying they first fell in love between the ages of 15 and 18! Twenty percent of us then fall in love between the ages of 19 an 21, so around the time you're at university or working your first real job.
Interest is the initial stage of having a crush. It starts with the locking of eyes and ends with butterflies in your stomach. You feel giddy as soon as you see them, and you are eager to know their name. If you already know their name, then it is all you can hear everywhere.