In his book The Social Nature of Mental Illness, Len Bowers postulates that although physiological differences exist in the brains of those that are deemed "mentally ill," there are several other criteria that must be met before the differences can be called a malfunction. This is incredibly dangerous when one does not seek help or cannot cope because love has been known to be fatal (a consequence of which might be attempted suicide, thus dramatising the ancient contention that love can be fatal). With the common symptoms of lovesickness being related to other mental diseases, it is often misdiagnosed or it is found that with all the illnesses one could be facing, love is the underlying problem. On average, a psychologist does not get referrals from general practitioners mentioning "lovesickness", although this can be prevalent through the language of what the patient feels. These neurotransmitters mimic the feeling of amphetamines. In the brain, certain neurotransmitters - phenethylamine, dopamine, norepinephrine and oxytocin - elicit the feeling of high from "love" or "falling in love" using twelve different regions of the brain. Scientific study on the topic of lovesickness has found that those in love experience a kind of high similar to that caused by illicit drugs such as cocaine. In 1915, Sigmund Freud asked rhetorically, "Isn't what we mean by 'falling in love' a kind of sickness and craziness, an illusion, a blindness to what the loved person is really like?" An excess of black bile, the humor correlated with melancholy, was usually considered the cause.
In both antiquity and the Middle Ages, lovesickness was often explained by an imbalance in the humors. 1872, oil on canvas - Cinquantenaire Museum - Brussels, Belgium - DSC08548.jpg The Death of Dido by Joseph Stallaert, c.
In the Middle Ages, unrequited love was considered "a trauma which, for the medieval melancholic, was difficult to relieve." Treatments included light therapy, rest, exposure to nature, and a diet of lamb, lettuce, fish, eggs, and ripe fruit. Dido's case is especially interesting, as the cause of her lovesickness is attributed to the meddling of the gods Juno and Venus. In ancient Greece, Euripides' play Medea portrays Medea's descent into "violence and mania" as a result of her lovesickness for Jason meanwhile, in ancient Rome, Virgil's Dido has a manic reaction to the betrayal of her lover, Aeneas, and commits suicide. In ancient literature, however, lovesickness manifested itself in "violent and manic" behavior. Lovesickness could be cured through the acquisition of the person of interest, such as in the case of Prince Antiochus. In the medical texts of ancient Greece and Rome, lovesickness was characterized as a "depressive" disease, "typified by sadness, insomnia, despondency, dejection, physical debility, and blinking." In Hippocratic texts, "love melancholy" is expected as a result of passionate love.
0 kommentar(er)
