A year ago, almost exactly, I was sitting in the classroom of the Introduction to Endocrinology class in Berkeley trying to remember which hormone was or wasn't steroid-based and could or could not cross the blood-brain barrier.
During the section of reproduction, the professor presented a slide titled "V-O-L-E spells LOVE" to illustrate that besides humans, another specie, the prarie vole, bonded for life. I still remember him saying that he wasn't sure yet, but the key to love seems to be oxytocin.
Oxytocin stimulates the same neuro-receptors in the brain as cocaine and morphine.
Love, then, is no more than an addiction to the same chemicals that brought people down and into rehab for centuries. This explains a lot of things. It explains why you hurt physically as well as mentally after a breakup, even when you were the one who initiated the split. It explains a lot about obsession. Madness accompanies any form of drug withdrawal.
"women want to belive in an illusion called love, meaning they want to belive that you're not ultimately alone after all. men however, realise that love is an illusion, making you forget for a moment that you're ultimately alone." Stephen King
Recently, several articles came out in leading newspapers about this paper:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v457/n7226/full/457148a.html
Young found that if oxytocin was given to a female prarie vole, she bonded with the next available male, and that similarly, if vasopresin was administered to a male vole, he would attempt to bond in a similar way.
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