Love could be the best medicine

Posted

Our understanding of the human brain is still in its infancy. The recent expenditure by the federal government on basic research may move us forward, at least a little. The brain remains a wonder. Individuals working at overcoming mental illness come to the study of the brain with a particular personal interest. They may be guided by therapists and doctors. They may take the latest in psychiatric medications. Still, an active and inquisitive participation in their own recovery has to make the study of the human brain a subject of interest.

For me, the most interesting question is how the emotion of love might play a role in altering brain chemistry. The medications do that, certainly, but they are expensive and all have side effects. What if generating this most fundamental of emotions could help do the job? Meditation is known to help alleviate many forms of mental illness. Exercise always helps. Isn’t it possible that love could do even more? Isn’t it possible that generating this emotion might work on the synapses or the serotonin or the other fundamental components of the brain?

The wisest man I ever knew, a doctor who studied the emotions for a living, told me that he had heard countless definition of the word, love, but that the only one that was worth anything, from a practical perspective, was: wanting another person to be happy. This then is what I am left with, wanting the DJs on WFUV to be happy, wanting the people on my floor to be happy, wanting the people who serve me coffee to be happy. That is all inside of me, my own attempt to alter my brain chemistry. I think it is working.

Doubtless there are many other ways to experience love; love of a significant other, love of family and friends, love of a location or a book or a movie. I am willing to believe that all of them might play a role in chemically altering the structure of the brain. It has been theorized by others wiser than myself that the emotion of love lies at the heart of the world’s major religions. The fact remains that the mental health patient, at the beginning of the 21st century, no matter how skilled his therapeutic team might be, is left groping for answers. It seems to me that those answers may be found in that most encompassing of emotions, love, and the practical effect it may have on the human brain.

Josh Greenfield is an author who lives in Riverdale.  His most recent book is “Homeward Bound: a novella of idle speculation.”

love, medicine, Josh Greenfield

Comments