Love and relationship addicts often feel their life has no purpose or meaning if they are not in love, or in a relationship.  Being in a relationship is what makes life worth living.  These individuals may constantly seek out relationships that are unhealthy for them.  They may cling to unhealthy relationships and have strong reactions to any threat to the relationship.  Or, the person may jump from one relationship to the next.  They may be involved in one relationship, feel they are getting bored, and begin seeking out another relationship to jump to.  They pursue love with a strong vengeance but actually run away from real intimacy.  They have fears of abandonment and a fear of being alone.  Therefore, they set up situations where they are never without a significant other.  The individual often loses themselves in the relationship as their love for their partner becomes all-consuming.  The addiction involves a pattern of multiple relationships that often begin with intense passion but end relatively quickly.

Behaviors love and relationship addiction may include but are not limited to:

·       Consumed with love or relationships

·       Lacks appropriate boundaries

·       Inability to trust in relationships

·       Fear of letting go for any reason

·       Confuses wants and needs

·       For goes individual growth

·       Puts self in risky situations for sake of partner

·       Giving love in order to get love

·       Manipulating

·       Want to change the other person

·       Feels responsible for partner’s feelings

·       May jump from one monogamous relationship to another

·       Serial Affairs

·       Lose intensity of relationship wants you get the person

·       Choosing partners driven by emotion

·       Craving love and relationships

·       Tolerating being poorly treated

·       Lose myself when “I fall in love”

·       Don’t feel peaceful or whole when alone

·       Clinging to others

·       Mistakes “love at first sight” for true love

·       Confuses intensity for intimacy

·       May appear to “have it all together”

Visit Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous at: http://www.slaafws.org