The theme “addicted to love” has inspired many songs and stories. Indeed, it is catchy and intriguing. Also, you might have seen stories online and in newspapers about people being "love addicts”. People who identify with “love addiction” often say that they can’t stop dating people or engaging in romantic relationships even if they already have romantic and sexual partners, and some people say that they can’t stop cheating. (Women who keep cheating tend to call themselves “love addicts” while men tend to call themselves “sex addicts".)

The truth is that neither “love addiction” or “sex addiction” is scientifically endorsed as a disorder by any mental health manuals such as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) and the World Health Organisation's ICD-11, which means that people identifying as “love addicts” may be doing so because it is a term they came across doing online searches, or because of what they've been told by an uninformed mental health professional. In reality, though, they might be struggling with something else.

The label “love addiction” is problematic because if people identify as such, they might........

© Psychology Today