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Original Paper
Neuropsychobiology 2011;64:52–60
DOI: 10.1159/000325076
Differences and Similarities on Neuronal Activities
of People Being Happily and Unhappily in Love:
A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study
Christina Stoessel
a
Juliane Stiller
a
Stefan Bleich
a, e
Dominikus Boensch
a, d
Arnd Doerfler
b
Meritxell Garcia
b
Tanja Richter-Schmidinger
a
Johannes Kornhuber
a
Clemens Forster
c
Departments of
a
Psychiatry and Psychotherapy and
b
Neuroradiology, and
c
Institute of Physiological Studies,
University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen,
d
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Rickling, and
e
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, MHH, Hannover, Germany
Unhappy lovers also revealed clinical depressive symptoms
in the BDI. Conclusion: Unhappy lovers compared to happy
lovers exhibited clinical depressive symptoms and reduced
blood oxygen level dependency changes in a brain network
which has been described as being involved in major de-
pression. This might be a cue for the close relationship be-
tween grief and depression. Copyright © 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel
Introduction
Romantic love is a sparsely understood part of the hu-
man mind and is regarded as a highly rewarding experi-
ence. It is characterized by focused attention to a pre-
ferred individual, intrusive, obsessive thinking about the
beloved as well as emotional dependency, and it involves
erotic, cognitive, emotional and behavioural components
[1]. On the one hand, it can provide a feeling of ecstasy,
Key Words
Functional magnetic resonance imaging Blood oxygen
level dependency Romantic love Emotion Depression
Grief
Abstract
Background: Brain activity was studied in grief following
frustrated love compared to romantic love, and it was hy-
pothesized that unhappy lovers compared to happy lovers
would have decreased brain activity in regions specific to
emotional and reward circuits, such as frontal brain areas,
anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), bilateral insula or posterior
cingulate cortex (PCC). Methods: Twelve volunteers intense-
ly in love and 12 volunteers recently separated from their
romantic partners were scanned performing 3 runs of func-
tional magnetic resonance imaging acquisition. Subjects
viewed partner pictures versus erotic pictures during the
first run of the scanning process, autobiographical pictures
versus neutral pictures during the second and autobio-
graphical texts versus neutral texts during the third run. The
Passionate Love Scale (PLS) and the Beck Depression Inven-
tory (BDI) were additionally recorded. Results: Decreased
brain activity in unhappy lovers compared to happy lovers
occurred in frontal areas, ACC and PCC and bilateral insula.
Received: June 28, 2010
Accepted after revision: January 23, 2011
Published online: May 24, 2011
Christina Stoessel, MD
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
Schwabachanlage 6, DE–91054 Erlangen (Germany)
Tel. +49 9131 853 3001, E-Mail christina.stoessel @ uk-erlangen.de
© 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel
0302–282X/11/0641–0052$38.00/0
Accessible online at:
www.karger.com/nps
This work was presented in part at the DGPPN Congress, Berlin,
November 21–24, 2007, and November 26–29, 2008, and at the
WFSBP Congress, Paris, June 28 to July 2, 2009.
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