true love

True Love: What Love Is and What It Is Not

The topic of true love has been debated for centuries.  Cynics often swear it doesn’t exist, while hopeless romantics think everyone should set out to find their soulmates.  With science now showing that true love is not only possible, but can actually last a lifetime, we’ve decided to look at the psychological elements that allow love to bloom… Read more »

Learn More

Advice for Valentine's Day: Amplify the Romance in Your Relationship

We’re all familiar with the complaint that Valentine’s Day has taken on too much of a material focus. And looking at it objectively, it’s pretty silly to assume that our feelings can be sized up in a dozen roses or a fleet of pink balloons. Yet, cards and chocolates aside, this heart-filled holiday is, for… Read more »

Learn More

It Is Immoral To Stop People From Loving You

Some of the most destructive behaviors, commonplace in relationships, are those that people act out in an attempt to ward off loving responses from their partner. In The Ethics of Interpersonal Relationships, I wrote about the dynamics underlying this phenomenon, explaining why we often punish the very person who appreciates and acknowledges us for our positive… Read more »

Learn More

A Definition Of Loving with Dr. Pat Love

In an exclusive interview with PsychAlive, Dr. Pat Love explains and defines the unique paradigm that is Love. It’s interesting that you ask what my definition of love is, because before research I would have said, “Love is a response to getting your needs met.”  Because if you look in the Western literature, it basically… Read more »

Learn More

Fantasy Bond

What is a fantasy bond? A “fantasy bond” describes an illusion of connection between a couple that is substituted for feelings of real love and intimacy. Forming a fantasy bond is an often unconscious act of self-parenting and self-protection, in which two people become pseudo-independent, replacing the real relating involved in being in love with the form of… Read more »

Learn More

Love

To love (verb) The dictionary offers two separate definitions for the word love. One is of a noun and the other is of a verb. The dictionary has unwittingly pinpointed the problem that many of us have with love. Often we treat love as if it were only a noun: “an entity, quality, state, action,… Read more »

Learn More