In line with the psychological model of self-expansion, recent neuroimaging evidence shows an overlap between the brain network mediating passionate love and that involved in self-representation. Nevertheless, little remains known about the temporal dynamics of these brain areas. To address this question, we recorded brain activity from 20 healthy participants using high-density electrophysiolo...

We assessed the impact of an individual difference variable, relationship-focused thinking, on women's acute salivary cortisol responses during and after a guided imagery task. Specifically, 29 healthy women, all of whom were experiencing high levels of passionate love, but varied on levels of relationship-focused thinking, were assigned to one of two experimental conditions: a partner reflecti...

The Dualistic Model of Passion (Vallerand et al., 2003) shows that people can experience a harmonious or an obsessive passion toward an activity. Mageau and Vallerand (2007; Mageau et al., 2009) have argued that self-related processes, such as contingencies of self-worth, are central in the distinction between the two types of passion. Specifically, it was proposed that people with an obsessive...

OBJECTIVES Drug addicts are more and more stigmatized in our society. Recent data show a connection between substance abuse and other behaviors considered normal, such as passionate love. Adolescence is characterized by a biopsychosocial, cognitive and neurodevelopmental immaturity. This article aims to understand if these subjects are more likely to develop addictions to certain products or ad...

Background: Passionate love involves physiological, emotional, and cognitive features that greatly changes behavior. This phenomenon seems universal or near universal. Even other animal species choose partners. An intense state of passionate love is associated with activity in dopamine pathways of the brain ‘reward system’, and recently has been regarded as a ‘natural addiction’. Instruments or...

The purpose of the book is marred by inaccuracies and 'V oversimplified case snippets, but it constitutes a serious and Passionate plea for a better understanding of the type of boy with whom it is concerned. R. S. Addis.