STEP 9

1 Falling in Love Releases Pleasure Chemicals

Workbook Recommendation

Having watched this video I recommend you read the section starting with the chapter called “Love and Other Drugs” which you will find on pages 274 to 280. In here you will learn more about the role your brain chemistry and body’s hormones and chemicals play in how you feel, react and behave when in love. Importantly you will also learn what you can do to break free from your brain chemistry.

“The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.” Carl Jung

2 An excerpt from the workbook

When we perceive a threat or danger it leads to stress and the amygdala, which processes emotions, sends distress signals to the hypothalamus, the command center of our brain …
and can trigger the well-known “flight or fight” response.. to get the body ready for action…
Our heart beats faster, blood pressure goes up, our lungs open up and we breathe quicker. Our sight, hearing, and sense of smell are all heightened…
Similarly, when we first fall in love or become deeply attracted to someone our bodies release dopamine, norepinephrine, vasopressin, phenylethylamine, oxytocin, adrenaline and serotonin, all of which give you a euphoric high and intense excitability… 
This powerful brain system works automatically and often without conscious input…
Normally, when the more conscious part of the brain has assessed the situation and decided the threat is over, then the parasympathetic nervous system kicks in and applies the brakes…

Some people experience difficulties in applying the brakes though, and when the threat is less tangible and more emotional, like fear of abandonment or extreme jealousy, it’s often harder for the cognitive mind to step in and apply the brakes at all. So unless we learn to spot the patterns and become more self-aware… then our powerful brain functions can literally run away with us.

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