Research into the development of drugs that enhance feelings of love now underway
15 years, 2 months ago
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Posted on Jan 21, 2009, 4 p.m.
Researchers are beginning to conduct animal testing to help them better understand the brain chemistry responsible for those human emotions that attract members of the opposite sex to each other.
Research studies have led to the development of a wide range of drug therapies to treat many types of emotional disorders, from anxiety and phobias to post-traumatic stress disorders. Now scientists believe that at some point in the future, they will be able to develop a drug that can boost feelings of love and attraction. Animal testing is now beginning to help them better understand the complex neural and genetic components responsible for those feeling that draw humans to a particular person and help keep us true to our spouses. As Professor Larry Young of Emory University in Georgia writes in the journal Nature, “Drugs that manipulate brain systems at whim to enhance or diminish our love for another may not be far away.”