Love During the Holidays
Here is a problem that I often see in my practice. True affection and love during the holidays often get lost amidst the celebration, parties, and good wishes for the …
A Psychiatrist Discusses the Illnesses of Affection
Most people have endured a period of lovelessness in their lives, most commonly when a romance has failed. Either they have fallen out of love with someone or been rejected by a lover. Pain ensues. The pain is usually emotional, but it can also be physical. Jilted lovers can suffer bodily aches and pains, headaches, stomach upsets, and the exacerbation of a chronic illness such as colitis. The term “broken heart” conveys the idea that the heart is actually damaged from a loss of love as if the heart was the organ responsible for affection and not the brain. Yet studies have shown that there are certain parts of the cortex that are activated when a person suffers a rejection of love. Clearly, something occurs in the brain and mind that resembles the withdrawal of a drug on which the man or woman is dependent. I will describe, in subsequent posts, steps to deal with the condition of lovelessness.