I Love You and I Hate You Too!
Why do Love-Hate Relationships Last? Or Do They?
Love and hate are as opposite as two emotions can be, yet couples often can relate to both extremes when describing their romantic relationship. How can this be? How can you feel extreme adoration for a person then loathe them minutes later?
As it turns out, love and hate may not be such different emotions after all.
A Fine Line Between Love and Hate
Some of the nervous circuits in your brain that are responsible for producing feelings of hatred are actually the same ones used to produce the feeling of romantic love, according to a study published in the journal PloS ONE.
And when you think about it, love and hate do share some similarities. Both are extreme emotions, and both can lead you to do irrational, heroic or even evil things, pointed out Professor Semir Zeki of University College London, who led the study, in The Independent.
“Hate is often considered to be an evil passion that should, in a better world, be tamed, controlled and eradicated. Yet to the biologist, hate is a passion that is of equal interest to love,” Professor Zeki told The Independent.
“Like love, it is often seemingly irrational and can lead individuals to heroic and evil deeds. How can two opposite sentiments lead to the same behavior?”
