Is it Love or Disease

At some point in life, most of us will face a major mental-health crisis. It is
called love.

Science is beginning to pay more attention to the chemical storm that romantic love can trigger in our brains. Recent studies of brain scans show that being in love causes changes in the brain that are strikingly similar to serious health problems like drug addiction and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

This doesn't mean love is bad for you. There is a growing body of research that shows how love and lasting relationships are an important determinant in long-term health. And the breakdown of a marriage or relationship can exact an enormous toll on a person's well-being. But knowing that love can make you crazy -- at least in the short term -- gives us clues about how to improve relationships and rekindle the romantic love that first brought a couple together.

"The brain system involved in romantic love is powerful," says Helen Fisher, an anthropologist at New Jersey's Rutgers University who has led much of the research into love's impact on the brain. "Everything that is going on in the brain, everything that happens with romantic love has a chemical basis."

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