Love Brain Chemistry: New Love vs. Established Love
May 6, 2017 / Michael Wayne Regier Ph.D. / MichaelRegier.com / Relational Excellence Articles
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Do you know the difference between new-love and established-love brain chemistry?
Couples come into my office all the time and compare their established-love relationship to the way they were when they were first in love.
This can cause significant relationship problems.
New love is actually driven by dopamine which mimics cocaine.
Remember what it was like when you were first together. When you were first infatuated with each other? Your heart beat faster. You were obsessionally preoccupied with the other person. You had this crazy high that felt like nothing else you had ever felt before?
New love is actually the “honey” that lures us into a relationship.
New love artificially opens us up. It helps us to make an initial connection. However, new love does not make love last!
Our brains do us a favor by decreasing dopamine production once a relationship is established. Can you imagine feeling this preoccupied and euphoric all of your life? Well …maybe you could (smile) but you wouldn’t be able to get much done!
So don’t make the mistake of comparing a new love relationship with an established love relationship. Established love looks and feels very different.
More about this in future videos. Click the link below for the first three chapters of our book:
Click here to download FREE chapters.
Emotional Connection: The Story and Science of Preventing Conflict and Creating Lifetime Love.
