Love/ Relationahip Addiction is an obsessive, dysfunctional search for romantic fulfillment. Love Addicts are not acutally seeking love, but chasing the emotional escape and fantasy provided by the rush of first feelings of romance or the initial stage of a romantic relationship. This feeling provides an escape and allows the other person to seem fascinating and exciting where problems are over looked by the excitement and intensity of meeting someone new and being in a new relationship. This pattern is repeated over and over and ends when there are feelings of stress and emotional discomfort.
Common Themes of Love Addiction are:
- Relying on romantic fantasy to escape from stress and emotional discomfort
- Mistaking short term sexual/ romantic intensity for love and lusting intimacy
- Struggling to maintain the sexual/romantic intensity of an existing relationship by causing drama, yet feeling stuck and trapped in the relationship
- Feeling desperate and alone when not in a relationship
- After a failed relationship, using sex, porn or compulsive masturbation in order to not need a partner
- Use sex and manipulation to hook or hold onto a partner
- Seeking a new relationship when in an existing relationship
A self diagnostic test is available here.