At this point in my life, after counseling hundreds of couples through all kinds of relationship challenges and a 26-year marriage of my own, I have a pretty expansive view of relationships. Even so, I am no expert and every so often, a new topic will arise in the realm of relating that I get to explore. One that recently caught my attention is a relational experience known as limerence.
Limerence is a term that might not be familiar to everyone, but the feelings it describes are something many of us have encountered. It is characterized by an intense, often immediate, romantic infatuation with another person that is accompanied by the emotional whirlwind we associate with new love. This phenomenon was first coined by psychologist Dorothy Tennov in the late 1970s to describe an involuntary state of deep obsession with another individual, one that typically brings about unhealthy and damaging behaviors.
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