Editing Limerence (section)

===Intrusive thinking and fantasy===
[[Intrusive thought|Intrusive thinking]] is an oft-reported feature of romantic love.<ref name="langeslag2012"/><ref name="proximateandultimate"/><ref name="co-opted"/> Tennov wrote that "Limerence is first and foremost a condition of cognitive obsession."<ref>{{harvnb|Tennov|1999|p=33}}</ref> One study found that on average people in love spent 65% of their waking hours thinking about the beloved.<ref name="langeslag2012">{{cite journal |last1=Langeslag |first1=Sandra |last2=Van Der Veen |first2=Frederik |last3=Fekkes |first3=Durk |title=Blood Levels of Serotonin Are Differentially Affected by Romantic Love in Men and Women |journal=Journal of Psychophysiology |year=2012 |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=92–98 |doi=10.1027/0269-8803/a000071 }}</ref> [[Arthur Aron]] says "It is obsessive-compulsive when you're feeling it. It's the center of your life."<ref name="usatoday"/> At the height of obsessive fantasy, people experiencing limerence may spend 85 to nearly 100% of their days and nights doting on the LO, lose ability to focus on other tasks and become easily distracted.<ref name="Fisher 2016 21"/>

A limerent person can spend time fantasizing about future events even if they never come true, as the anticipation on its own yields [[dopamine]].<ref name="mccracken" /> According to Tennov, limerent fantasy is unsatisfactory unless rooted in reality, because the fantasizer may want the fantasy to seem realistic enough to be somewhat possible.<ref>{{harvnb|Tennov|1999|pp=41,85,86}}</ref> The fantasies can nevertheless be wildly unrealistic, for example, one person related to her an elaborate rescue fantasy in which he saves an LO's 5-year-old cousin from a group of motorcycles only to be bitten by a snake and die in his LO's lap.<ref>{{harvnb|Tennov|1999|p=40}}</ref> This fantasizing along with the replaying of actual memories forms a bridge between one's ordinary life and the eventual hoped for moment of consummation. Tennov says that limerent fantasy is "inescapable", something that just "happens" as opposed to something one "does".<ref>{{harvnb|Tennov|1999|pp=40–41}}</ref>

One theory of obsessive thinking draws from the parallel with [[drug addiction]]: as the early stage of romantic love is compared to addiction to a person, and drug addicts also exhibit obsessive thinking about drug use.<ref name=":7" /><ref name="tallis-addict"/> Tennov has written that limerent fantasy based in reality "can be conceived as intricate strategy planning".<ref name="Tennov 1999 247"/> In the late 1990s, it had also been speculated that being in love may lower [[serotonin]] levels in the brain, which could cause the intrusive thoughts.<ref name="fisher1998"/><ref name="marazziti">{{cite journal |last1=Marazziti |first1=D. |last2=Akiskal |first2=H. S. |last3=Rossi |first3=A. |last4=Cassano |first4=G. B. |title=Alteration of the platelet serotonin transporter in romantic love |journal=Psychol. Med. |year=1999 |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=741–745 |pmid=10405096 |doi=10.1017/S0033291798007946 |s2cid=12630172 }}</ref> The serotonin hypothesis is based in part on a comparison to [[obsessive–compulsive disorder]],<ref name="leckmanmayes">{{cite journal |last1=Leckman |first1=James |last2=Mayes |first2=Linda |date=July 1999 |title=Preoccupations and Behaviors Associated with Romantic and Parental Love: Perspectives on the Origin of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder |journal=Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=635–665 |doi=10.1016/S1056-4993(18)30172-X |pmid=10442234 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="marazziti"/> but the experimental evidence is ambiguous.<ref name="proximateandultimate"/> The experiments have tested blood levels of serotonin, with the first experiment finding lowered serotonin levels, but the second experiment finding that men and women were affected differently.<ref name="proximateandultimate"/><ref name="langeslag2012"/><ref name="marazziti" /> This second experiment found that obsessive thinking was actually associated with increased serotonin levels in women.<ref name="langeslag2012" />

For some people who have a [[fear of intimacy]] or a history of [[Psychological trauma|trauma]], limerent fantasy might be an escape or a means of having what feels like a relationship but without the threat of real intimacy.<ref name=":18">{{Cite news |last=Britten |first=Fleur |date=23 November 2022 |title=What Love Addiction Feels Like |url=https://www.vogue.co.uk/arts-and-lifestyle/article/limerance-experience |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240925211140/https://www.vogue.co.uk/arts-and-lifestyle/article/limerance-experience |archive-date=25 September 2024 |access-date=25 September 2024 |work=[[British Vogue]]}}</ref><ref name=":17" />