Ending a relationship is never fun, but it’s definitely worse when you are the one getting your heart broken. After being scorned, many find that the road to recovery involves a lot of sobbing, Facebook stalking, and limited contact with the outside world. Why is it that withdrawal from a relationship can cause such extreme emotions and actions?
Well, researchers think it may be because we are actually addicted to love. A recent study published in the Journal of Neurophysiology shows that the same part of the brain is activated when someone feels rejected romantically as when someone is craving cocaine.
Source: time
Researchers at Stony Brook University had 15 brokenhearted men look at a picture of the ex they had been obsessing over and then try to complete a math problem while researchers studied their brain activity. Then the same process was done over again, only this time using a photo of someone the subject knew, but not intimately. The test showed that certain areas of the brain are much more active after seeing the image of the ex. This same active areas are also afire in cocaine addicts who are experiencing physical pain while going through withdrawal.
The good news is, much like kicking a drug habit, the mental distress you experience trying to recover from a bad breakup eventually wears away with time. Looks like Ke$ha was on to something remotely intelligent with her song “Your Love is My Drug.” Emphasis on remotely. [New York Daily News]
Source: Sabine Lahme
Original by Kelli Bender
