Understanding Love – The Basic Brain Regions Linked to Romantic Love
Love is simply a collection of behaviors and emotions characterized by emotional intimacy, romance, passion, commitment, and caring. It involves emotional closeness, support, attention, caring, attraction, confidence, joy, and happiness. Love is sometimes associated with an array of positive emotions, such as happiness, excitement, life fulfillment, and euphoria, however it can also be accompanied by several negative emotions, such as anxiety, irritation, resentment, blame, anger, jealousy, confusion, boredom, guilt, resentment, doubt, fear, stress, and worry. There are many ways in which love is expressed and differs between the various types of love. It can be romantic love, the love you have for your children, a friendly love, or the deep love you have for another person.
The Agape love style is the most common type of love in relationships. It is characterized by affection and physical intimacy. The Agape love style is “umatological” meaning it views love as an expression of our compassion and caring for others. If we are experiencing love for ourselves then we are in the “umatological” love style. In the “umatological” love style there is a greater emphasis on our feelings and emotions rather than our intellect and knowledge. In this love style we tend to be more vulnerable and open to receiving our partner’s affection.
The Erotic Love style is often referred to as romantic love. It is when we are in a loving relationship with another person but our focus is on our own feelings. This can mean being in a long distance relationship or it can mean a short term intimate relationship with someone we have recently known. It can be displayed as a desire to spend time with another person and it can also mean feeling sexually attracted to another person. Erotic love can be very intense. It can often make us feel as though our whole essence is being poured into the other person.
Romantic love includes an appreciation of the other person as well-being. We tend to have strong feelings about our partners as well as strong feelings for our own self-worth. When we are in a romantic relationship we have an appreciation for the beauty of their qualities. These qualities include their intelligence, kindness, compassion as well-being. We can also show our appreciation for their abilities in the job arena as well as any romantic books or movies they may enjoy.
The Friendship Love style is similar to the Erotic love style in that we are not focused on our own feelings but rather on the other person. With the Friendship Love style we tend to have more of a caring expression for our loved one. We want to create a safe atmosphere where the other person feels comfortable and understood. We share experiences and thoughts with our partner and this gives us a great depth of understanding. In addition to the caring expression, we may also give time and material possessions to the other person.
The Oxytocin style is closely related to the Romantic Love style and is very similar to human intimacy. Oxytocin is the neurotransmitter that is responsible for the strong emotions of love. As you become more familiar with the use of oxytocin during the course of your studies you will start to see many examples of romantic love in action. As you begin to understand the effect of oxytocin on the human brain regions related to emotions, you will be able to produce more of these feelings in your life and improve your love life.
