LOVE ADDICTION

Love Addiction

Will the pain go away?

Yes, but love addicts must address the underlying emotional pain that is at the core of the addiction. We can help you explore your patterns of unhealthy relationships. With training by Pia Mellody, the foremost leader in Love Addiction, we can help you heal and move from love that hurts to love that’s real. Don’t suffer this alone seek help and healing today. Bluffview Counseling's therapists are among the best Dallas love addiction counselors.
A love addict’s core fantasy is the expectation that someone else can solve their problems and make them whole.

What is Love Addiction?

What is Love Addiction? Love addiction is described as one person “loving” another person with an obsessive intensity that is not in the best interest of either party. Love addicts spend an excessive amount of time and effort on a person to whom they are addicted. Love addicts value this person above themselves, and their focus on the beloved other is often obsessive. Love addicts also tend to enjoy the feeling of excitement that being “in love” brings. This behavior results in love addicts neglecting to care for themselves in a variety of ways, in essence abandoning important aspects of their lives and well-being to stay connected to the object of their affection.

A love addict’s core fantasy is the expectation that someone else can solve their problems, provide unconditional positive regard at all times, and take care of them. When this unrealistic need isn’t met, love addicts may find themselves feeling resentful, and may create conflict in their relationships with others.

Some love addicts find that when not involved in a love-addicted relationship, they are able to care for themselves quite adequately. However, when they become involved, the love addict quickly finds that their self-care capacity steadily declines. A love addict will typically experience intense pain and depression when a relationship ends and will transgress their own values in order to keep the relationship going amd avoid abandonment and withdrawal.

As with any addiction, recovery from love addiction is a process of self-discovery. It requires taking specific steps: breaking through denial and acknowledging the addiction; owning the harmful consequences of the addiction; and intervening to stop the addictive cycle from occurring.

A solid relationship with a skilled therapist at Bluffview Counseling, trained in love addiction can help guide you through this process. Start your healing today.

Am I a Love Addict? Questions to help you know.

Am I a Love Addict? Adapted from Susan Peabody's Addiction to Love

If you can answer yes to more than a few of the following questions, you are probably a love addict. Remember that love addiction comes in many forms, so even if you don’t answer yes to all of the questions you may still be a love addict.
  1. You are very needy when it comes to relationships.
  2. You fall in love very easily and too quickly.
  3. When you fall in love, you can’t stop fantasizing—even to do important things. You can’t help yourself.
  4. Sometimes, when you are lonely and looking for companionship, you lower your standards and settle for less than you want or deserve.
  5. When you are in a relationship, you tend to smother your partner.
  6. More than once, you have gotten involved with someone who is unable to commit—hoping he or she will change.
  7. Once you have bonded with someone, you can’t let go.
  8. When you are attracted to someone, you will ignore all the warning signs that this person is not good for you.
  9. Initial attraction is more important to you than anything else when it comes to falling in love and choosing a partner. Falling in love over time does not appeal to you and is not an option.
  10. When you are in love, you trust people who are not trustworthy. The rest of the time you have a hard time trusting people.
  11. When a relationship ends, you feel your life is over and more than once you have thought about suicide because of a failed relationship.
  12. You take on more than your share of responsibility for the survival of a relationship.
  13. Love and relationships are the only things that interest you.
  14. In some of your relationships you were the only one in love.
  15. You are overwhelmed with loneliness when you are not in love or in a relationship.
  16. You cannot stand being alone. You do not enjoy your own company.
  17. More than once, you have gotten involved with the wrong person to avoid being lonely.
  18. You are terrified of never finding someone to love.
  19. You feel inadequate if you are not in a relationship.
  20. You cannot say no when you are in love or if your partner threatens to leave you.
  21. You try very hard to be who your partner wants you to be. You will do anything to please him or her—even abandon yourself (sacrifice what you want, need and value).
  22. When you are in love, you only see what you want to see. You distort reality to quell anxiety and feed your fantasies.
  23. You have a high tolerance for suffering in relationships. You are willing to suffer neglect, depression, loneliness, dishonesty—even abuse—to avoid the pain of separation anxiety (what you feel when you are not with someone you have bonded with).
  24. More than once, you have carried a torch for someone and it was agonizing.
  25. You love romance. You have had more than one romantic interest at a time even when it involved dishonesty.
  26. You have stayed with an abusive person.
  27. Fantasies about someone you love, even if he or she is unavailable, are more important to you than meeting someone who is available.
  28. You are terrified of being abandoned. Even the slightest rejection feels like abandonment and it makes you feel horrible.
  29. You chase after people who have rejected you and try desperately to change their minds.
  30. When you are in love, you are overly possessive and jealous.
  31. More than once, you have neglected family or friends because of your relationship.
  32. You have no impulse control when you are in love.
  33. You feel an overwhelming need to check up on someone you are in love with.
  34. More than once, you have spied on someone you are in love with.
  35. You pursue someone you are in love with even if he or she is with another person.
  36. If you are part of a love triangle (three people), you believe all is fair in love and war. You do not walk away.
  37. Love is the most important thing in the world to you.
  38. Even if you are not in a relationship, you still fantasize about love all the time— either someone you once loved or the perfect person who is going to come into your life someday.
  39. As far back as you can remember, you have been preoccupied with love and romantic fantasies.
  40. You feel powerless when you fall in love—as if you are in some kind of trance or under a spell. You lose your ability to make wise choices.
A solid relationship with a skilled therapist at Bluffview Counseling, trained in love addiction can help guide you through your healing process.
“After working with Bluffview Counseling, I now know that I deserve a relationship with someone who respects and cares about me.”
Anonymous client

What's my next step?

It can be difficult to take the next step, and to seek action, but that might be the most important step of your life. You can schedule an appointment online, or call or email us with any questions you may have at (214) 390-5800 or email us at Info@BluffviewCounseling.com. 

If we are unable to answer, you can leave a secure and confidential voice mail and someone from our office will follow up with you as soon as possible.
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