First Love Syndrome

[DarkDwarf]

Hey everyone,

This was a question I meant to ask a couple months back when I had the opportunity to enter a relationship that has come and gone. Regardless, being the curious little youth that I am I am still fairly interested in knowing if this has any true scientific information to back up the idea of 'First Love Syndrome'... For those of you that don't know or possibly don't understand my terminology, I am talking about the attachment that many (generally women, or so I have seen) people have to their 'First Love'.

In my short life, the people I know that suffer this suffer it generally because of mental attachments, though I would go so far as to wonder if this applies physically as well... Do (some) people tend to have a deep want and/or longing for the first person that they sleep with? Is there any scientific evidence to back up 'First Love Syndrome' at all? What are everyones experiences (self, S.O., friend) with 'FLS'?

[Mish]

I don't have any scientific evidence on this, but I know that some individuals and cultures place an over-importance on the first partner being "The first and the last". Others see it as an expression of innocence, purity, in some cases divinity. A stepping point for some people in that first relationship is the loss of innocence and the becoming of an adult. It's a very significant stage in a person's life and personal development.

I think everyone is different in that regard. For some this may be a nostlagic yearning for the innocence of that first relationship. Others may associate it with the very first emotional / sexual awakening and the flood of new emotions that came with it. Others still may genuinely miss the chemistry of that first relationship their own inabillity to sustain it due to inexperience.

[EmoBlackBelt]

Difficult to say. I've only really ever been "in love" once in my life, so I'm not the best person to judge. I would guess there is something psychologically valid about that, but no one can know for sure.

[xmoongirlx]

Well I've been in love twice!

1.My first boyfriend
2.My current boyfriend

My first was also my first love! I'm not in love with him anymore but I sure have a special part in my heart for him. It's just how I feel, he was someone very special and I would never forget him. But I'm not attached to the memories or anything, sometimes I just wonder what he's doing (since he's n another country).

[DoesntMatter]

Mental attachments are physical ones... We're physical beings here

[DarkDwarf]

Well, sexual (intercourse) versus non-sexual

[Gigabitch]

I have no longings whatsoever for my first love. It is well and truly over. Fond feelings, sure, but nothing more.

[anachronistic]

I still have feelings for all of my exes, no matter what happened (for whatever reason), however I have learned to keep those feelings from interfering with my daily life and out of my other relationships.

I am able to move on even with persistent feelings.

[IndiReloaded]

I have no longings whatsoever for my first love. It is well and truly over. Fond feelings, sure, but nothing more.

Ditto. He was, and still is, a good guy.

Most first love relationships are more about learning about yourself than partnering with another.

BTW, relationship attachment, esp in longterm ones, is remarkably like a chemical dependance. There's lots of data to support this, both from psychology & biochemistry.