Editing Limerence (section)

{{Short description|Romantic love, lovesickness or love madness}}
{{distinguish|Liminality}}
[[File:Psyché.jpg|right|240px|thumb|''[[Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss]]'', by [[Antonio Canova]], first version 1787–1793]]
{{Close relationships|emotions}}
{{Love sidebar|types}}

'''Limerence''' is a [[Mental state|state of mind]] resulting from [[Romance (love)|romantic]] feelings for another person. The state involves [[Intrusive thought|intrusive]] and [[melancholic]] thoughts, or tragic concerns for the object of one's affection, typically along with a desire for the reciprocation of one's feelings and to form a relationship with the object of [[love]].

[[Psychologist]] [[Dorothy Tennov]] coined the term "limerence" as an alteration of the word "amorance" without other etymologies.<ref name="observer">{{cite news | date=11 September 1977 | title=Will limerence take the place of love?| work=[[The Observer]] | quote=One of the most illuminating sessions was when Dorothy Tennov [...] described her attempts to find a suitable term for 'romantic love.' [...] 'I first used the term "amorance" then changed it back to "limerence",' she told her audience. 'It has no roots whatsoever. It looks nice. It works well in French. Take it from me it has no etymology whatsoever.'}}</ref> The concept grew out of her work in the 1960s, when she interviewed over 500 people on the topic of love.<ref name="Love and Limerence">{{cite book |last=Tennov |first=Dorothy |author-link=Dorothy Tennov |title=Love and Limerence: the Experience of Being in Love |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uPsDAAAACAAJ |access-date=12 March 2011 |year=1999 |publisher=Scarborough House |isbn=978-0-8128-6286-7 |archive-date=27 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327220413/https://books.google.com/books?id=uPsDAAAACAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Hatfield 1988 197">{{harvnb|Hatfield|1988|p=197}}: "Tennov (1979) interviewed more than five hundred passionate lovers. Almost all lovers took it for granted that passionate love (which Tennov labels 'limerence') is a bittersweet experience."</ref><ref name="wapo1990" /> In her book ''Love and Limerence'', she writes that "to be in a state of limerence is to feel what is usually termed 'being in love.{{'"}}<ref>{{harvnb|Tennov|1999|p=16}}</ref> She coined the term to disambiguate the state from other less-overwhelming emotions, and to avoid the implication that people who don't experience it are incapable of love.<ref>{{cite journal |date=14 December 2003 |title=That crazy little thing called love |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2003/dec/14/features.magazine47 |url-status=live |journal=The Guardian |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240525231904/https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2003/dec/14/features.magazine47 |archive-date=25 May 2024 |access-date=15 April 2009}}</ref><ref name="Tennov 1999 15">{{harvnb|Tennov|1999|p=15}}</ref>

According to Tennov and others, limerence can be considered [[romantic love]],<ref name="observer" /><ref name="usatoday" /><ref name="proximateandultimate">{{cite journal |last1=Bode |first1=Adam |last2=Kushnick |first2=Geoff |date=11 April 2021 |title=Proximate and Ultimate Perspectives on Romantic Love |journal=[[Frontiers in Psychology]] |volume=12 |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.573123 |pmc=8074860 |pmid=33912094 |doi-access=free}}: "Despite [the] attempts to define and describe romantic love, no single term or definition has been universally adopted in the literature. The psychological literature often uses the terms 'romantic love,' 'love,' and 'passionate love' [...]. Seminal work called it 'limerence' (Tennov, 1979). The biological literature generally uses the term 'romantic love' [...] or being 'in love' [...]. In this review, what we term 'romantic love' encompasses all of these definitions, descriptions, and terms."</ref> [[falling in love]],<ref>{{harvnb|Tennov|1999|p=222}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Tallis|2004|p=42}}</ref><ref name="diamond2003">{{cite journal |last1=Diamond |first1=Lisa |date=Jan 2003 |title=What does sexual orientation orient? A biobehavioral model distinguishing romantic love and sexual desire |journal=[[Psychological Review]] |volume=110 |issue=1 |pages=173–92 |doi=10.1037/0033-295x.110.1.173 |pmid=12529061}}: "Numerous researchers accord with a basic distinction between infatuation (also known as [...] limerence) and attachment [...]. In a self-report study of over 1,000 individuals, Tennov (1979) found that infatuation was characterized by intense desires for proximity and physical contact, resistance to separation, feelings of excitement and euphoria when receiving attention and affection from the partner, fascination with the partner's behavior and appearance, extreme sensitivity to his or her moods and signs of interest, and intrusive thoughts of the partner."</ref> love madness,<ref>{{harvnb|Tennov|1998|p=77,86}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Tennov|2005|pp=338,406}}</ref><ref name="beam-limerence-fisher">{{harvnb|Beam|2013|pp=72,75}}: "[Tennov] discovered that many who considered themselves 'madly in love' had similar descriptions of their emotions and actions. She chose the label ''limerence'' to describe an intense longing and desire for another person that is much stronger than a simple infatuation, but not the same as a long-lived love that could last a life-time. [...] In 2002, Helen Fisher, PhD, in concert with other researchers, published the article 'Defining the Brain Systems of Lust, Romantic Attraction, and Attachment' in the ''Archives of Sexual Behavior''. Considered a leading researcher [...], she and her research colleagues have identified several characteristics of a person who is 'madly in love,' or, as we put it, in limerence."</ref> intense [[infatuation]],<ref name="thelovedrug">{{cite news |last=Frankel |first=Valerie |date=2002 |title=The Love Drug |url=https://www.oprah.com/relationships/the-science-of-being-love-sick-relationships-and-limerence |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240320005948/https://www.oprah.com/relationships/the-science-of-being-love-sick-relationships-and-limerence |archive-date=20 March 2024 |access-date=19 March 2024 |work=Oprah |format=web}}</ref><ref name="diamond2003" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kingsburg |first=Sheryl |date=2 April 2009 |title=What Is Limerance, And How Long Does It Normally Last? |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Health/WellnessResource/story?id=7183013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090424030028/https://abcnews.go.com/Health/WellnessResource/story?id=7183013 |archive-date=24 April 2009 |access-date=2025-05-03 |website=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |language=en}}</ref> [[passionate love]] with obsessive elements<ref name="Hatfield 1988 197" /><ref name="proximateandultimate" /><ref name="acevedo2009" /> or [[lovesickness]].<ref name="wapo1990" /><ref>{{harvnb|Tennov|1999|pp=7,102,179,243}}</ref><ref name="ethnopharma" /> Limerence is also sometimes compared and contrasted with a [[Crush (love)|crush]], with limerence being much more intense, impacting daily life and functioning more.<ref name="mccracken">{{cite news |last=McCracken |first=Amanda |date=27 January 2024 |title=Is It a Crush or Have You Fallen Into Limerence? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/27/style/limerence-addiction-love-crush.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240130075643/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/27/style/limerence-addiction-love-crush.html |archive-date=30 January 2024 |access-date=30 January 2024 |work=[[The New York Times]] |format=web}}</ref><ref name=":16" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Chong |first=Elaine |date=2021-02-13 |title=When you can't quit a crush |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/feb/13/when-you-cant-quit-a-crush |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231215185441/https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/feb/13/when-you-cant-quit-a-crush |archive-date=15 December 2023 |access-date=2025-05-03 |work=[[The Guardian]] |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

''Love and Limerence'' has been called the seminal work on romantic love, with Tennov's survey results and the various personal accounts recounted in the book largely marking the start of data collection on the phenomenon.<ref name="proximateandultimate" /><ref>{{harvnb|Fisher|2016|p=20}}</ref>