Love or Love Addiction? One Psychological Trait May Help Tell the Difference

Psychologists have identified a potential dividing line between intense but nonclinical romantic attachment and severe love addiction, with attachment anxiety emerging as a particularly important marker. A new study in Sexual Health & Compulsivity found that people with clinical levels of love addiction showed substantially higher relationship anxiety than those considered merely at risk.

The study, titled Psychological and Psychopathological Features of Love Addiction: A Cross-Sectional Study, was conducted by Roberta Gabriella Cavalli, Arianna Teverini, Viviana Ferrà and Patrizia Velotti. It adds to a growing body of literature examining when passionate attachment crosses into clinical territory.

Love addiction is characterized by obsessive, dependent involvement in a romantic relationship that becomes the center of a person’s life. People experiencing these patterns may sacrifice friendships, work and personal interests while persistently seeking reassurance and closeness, even as emotional distress and problems in other areas of life increase.

Debate over what love addiction is

Researchers have long disagreed over how love addiction should be classified. Some view it as a behavioral addiction resembling gambling, while others argue that it reflects attachment difficulties rooted in fear of abandonment and low self-worth.

The condition is not formally recognized in major diagnostic manuals, leaving clinicians without universally agreed criteria for diagnosis or treatment. Rather than forcing participants into rigid categories, the researchers used a bottom-up approach focused on underlying emotional, personality and relational characteristics.

Study author Patrizia Velotti of Sapienza University of Rome said the team wanted to examine love addiction through the lens of emotion regulation, personality functioning and relationship dynamics. Instead of assuming that it was simply another behavioral addiction, they mapped how these factors interact in people experiencing different levels of relationship-related difficulties.

Study design and participant groups

The research involved 152 Italian adults with an average age of approximately 33, divided into three groups according to their level of love addiction risk. One group showed no risk, another scored as at risk on a self-report measure, while a third consisted of patients already receiving clinical treatment.

Participants in the at-risk group reported addiction-like behaviors, including distress when separated from a partner or serious conflict between their relationship and everyday life. Clinically identified patients had been referred for treatment specifically because of symptoms associated with love addiction.

All participants completed questionnaires measuring general emotion regulation, personality functioning and relationship-specific characteristics, including attachment anxiety and emotional awareness within intimate relationships. The researchers statistically controlled for age and gender to reduce their influence on the findings.

Shared emotional and personality vulnerabilities

Both at-risk participants and clinical patients experienced significantly greater difficulties with emotional regulation than people in the no-risk group. They reported more problems accepting negative emotions, controlling impulses and remaining aware of their feelings when distressed.

The findings suggest that some people who remain intensely attached to turbulent relationships may use the relationship itself as a way of coping with painful internal states. Velotti noted that the romantic relationship can function as a regulator of distress rather than simply becoming the focus of compulsive behavior.

In terms of personality functioning, both risk groups showed greater difficulties involving identity, self-direction, empathy and intimacy than participants without love addiction risk. However, differences between the at-risk and clinical groups on these broader characteristics were relatively small, suggesting that they share several underlying psychological vulnerabilities.

Attachment anxiety as the tipping point

The clearest distinction emerged in relationship-specific processes, particularly attachment anxiety. While emotional regulation and personality difficulties were already elevated among people considered at risk, attachment anxiety increased step by step from the no-risk group to the at-risk group and reached its highest level among clinical patients.

People with clinical love addiction reported intense fears of abandonment, a heightened need for reassurance and persistent concerns about losing their partner. These anxieties distinguished the more severe cases more clearly than general emotional dysregulation or broader personality difficulties.

Both the at-risk and clinical groups also showed poorer emotional clarity within their relationships, making it more difficult for them to identify and understand what they were feeling in interactions with their partners. This pattern is consistent with earlier research linking insecure, anxious attachment with more severe symptoms of love addiction.

Implications for diagnosis and treatment

The findings support viewing love addiction as a dimensional phenomenon rather than simply a disorder that is either present or absent. Psychological vulnerabilities may already be apparent among people considered at risk, while attachment anxiety appears to become increasingly pronounced as difficulties reach a clinical level.

Velotti cautioned against automatically labeling intense romantic attachment as pathological and emphasized that love addiction itself is not currently an established diagnosis. Instead, the findings suggest examining patterns of emotional regulation, self-functioning and attachment difficulties when assessing people experiencing problematic relationship dependence.

From a clinical perspective, the results suggest that addressing attachment anxiety and relationship-based emotional regulation may be particularly important. Therapies that strengthen a person’s sense of identity, promote more secure attachment and develop healthier ways of managing distress could offer benefits beyond simply attempting to stop compulsive relationship behaviors.

Limitations and next research steps

The study has several limitations that affect how broadly its findings can be applied. The clinical group was relatively small and predominantly female, raising questions about whether the same patterns would emerge among men or in more diverse populations.

Because the research was cross-sectional, it cannot establish whether anxious attachment contributes to the development of love addiction or whether prolonged relationship dependence increases attachment anxiety over time. Longitudinal research will be necessary to understand how these difficulties develop and potentially reinforce one another.

The authors plan to move beyond comparisons between love addiction and other behavioral addictions and work toward an integrated model of the phenomenon. Such a framework could help improve assessment tools and inform interventions that more directly address the emotional and relational mechanisms involved.

Article prepared by Victoria Caldwell.