Love addiction is not simply a case of loving too much. New research suggests the line between a troubled relationship and a clinical problem runs through anxiety. A study in Sexual Health & Compulsivity found that people with clinical levels of love addiction reported more severe relationship anxiety than those who were only at risk. However, both groups struggled to regulate their emotions to a similar degree.

The findings, first reported by Eric W. Dolan at PsyPost, point to romantic relationship addiction as a spectrum rather than a single switch.

What Love Addiction Looks Like

Love addiction describes an obsessive and dependent involvement in a romantic relationship. Their partner becomes the centre of life. They keep seeking approval, reassurance and closeness from their partner, often at the expense of friendships, work and personal interests. The pattern continues even when it causes real distress or harms other areas of life.

Researchers still disagree about what it is. Some see a behavioural addiction similar to gambling. Others see an attachment problem rooted in an excessive fear of abandonment. Psychiatric manuals do not list standardised diagnostic criteria, so mental health professionals often struggle to identify and treat it.

That gap pushed the research team towards a bottom up approach. Instead of fitting people into fixed diagnostic boxes, they looked at emotional, personality and relational traits as they occur naturally. “Rather than assuming from the outset that it is simply a behavioural addiction, we wanted to examine the psychological processes associated with it,” said study author Patrizia Velotti, a professor of clinical psychology at Sapienza University of Rome.

Inside the Study of 152 Adults

The team recruited 152 adults in Italy with an average age of about 33. They split the group into three. Seventy people had no risk. Another 53 were at risk, based on high scores on a self report questionnaire. It covered addiction like behaviours, such as withdrawal symptoms when apart from a partner. Finally, 29 were patients already receiving clinical treatment for related difficulties, as identified by mental health professionals.

Everyone completed surveys on emotional regulation, personality functioning and relationship factors. Personality questions covered identity, self direction, empathy and the capacity for intimacy. Relationship measures covered attachment anxiety and the ability to make sense of emotions within an intimate bond. The researchers also controlled for age and gender.

Shared Struggles at the At Risk Stage

Both the at risk group and the clinical group reported far more difficulty managing emotions. Those with no risk did not. They also described more problems with their sense of self and their relationships. Crucially, the two groups did not differ significantly from each other on general emotional regulation or personality functioning.

This hints that the relationship itself may act as a way to soothe painful feelings. “The relationship itself may function as a means of regulating difficult emotional states,” Velotti noted. In other words, the question is not only about compulsion. It is also about what the relationship is being used to regulate.

Within the relationship, both groups also showed less awareness and clarity about their emotions. Again, the non risk group fared better.

Anxious Attachment Climbs Step by Step

Relationship measures told a different story. Attachment anxiety rose with severity. Adults with no risk reported the lowest levels. The at risk group sat in the middle, while the clinical group reported the highest. An intense fear of abandonment and a strong need for reassurance therefore appear to be markers of severe, clinical love addiction.

Velotti stressed that the clinical group did not simply show more problems across the board. Emotional dysregulation and personality difficulties were already clearly elevated among people at risk. Anxious attachment, by contrast, showed a clear and progressive increase that peaked in the clinical group.

Why Love Addiction Is Not Just Loving Too Much

According to Velotti, problematic forms of romantic involvement involve a broader pattern. It includes trouble regulating emotions and impaired functioning in how people see themselves and others. Above all, it involves difficulties with attachment and emotional life inside intimate relationships.

Because the at risk group already showed these difficulties, the results suggest trouble is present well before a person reaches treatment.

Velotti also urged caution. She said the findings should not be read as proof that intense romantic attachment is pathological in itself. Nor do they show that love addiction is already an established diagnosis. Experts still debate the construct. The results point to a dimensional and relational pattern of difficulties rather than a discrete disorder.

Limits of the Research

This research relied on a small number of clinical patients, so the results are harder to generalise. Participants were also overwhelmingly female. As a result, the findings may not capture how men experience romantic relationship addiction. In addition, the research took place at a single point in time. It cannot show whether anxious attachment causes the problem or whether the addiction fuels the anxiety.

Future studies will need to follow people over time. Velotti said the next goal is a more integrated model of the problem. This could improve assessment. It could also shape interventions that target the underlying psychological and relational mechanisms, not only the overt compulsive behaviour.

The paper, “Psychological and Psychopathological Features of Love Addiction: A Cross Sectional Study,” was authored by Roberta Gabriella Cavalli, Arianna Teverini, Viviana Ferrà and Patrizia Velotti.

Source: dbrecoveryresources