A General Theory of Love

Thomas Lewis · Fari Amini · Richard Lannon

Dec 2007 · Sold by Vintage

About this ebook

This original and lucid account of the complexities of love and its essential role in human well-being draws on the latest scientific research. Three eminent psychiatrists tackle the difficult task of reconciling what artists and thinkers have known for thousands of years about the human heart with what has only recently been learned about the primitive functions of the human brain.

A General Theory of Love demonstrates that our nervous systems are not self-contained: from earliest childhood, our brains actually link with those of the people close to us, in a silent rhythm that alters the very structure of our brains, establishes life-long emotional patterns, and makes us, in large part, who we are. Explaining how relationships function, how parents shape their child’s developing self, how psychotherapy really works, and how our society dangerously flouts essential emotional laws, this is a work of rare passion and eloquence that will forever change the way you think about human intimacy.

Ratings and reviews

non-empirical foundations of Freudianism and behaviorism as explanations for emotions...emergence of neuroscience and the theory of the triune brain...reptilian, limbic, neocortical...neural signalling and networking, chemical and electrical...limbic brain as the center of emotion, play and communion...neocortical brain and the power of abstration...danger of pancognitivist fallacy. neural architecture and circuits for emotions, expressions, feelings, moods,thoughts... limbic brain and the coordination of physiology and the environment...the limbic brain stands at the convergence of these two information streams--physiological processes and environmental events...limbic outputs to the neocortical and reptilian brains (53-54). The ability of the limbic brain to read the emotional relevance of situations and events...intuiting the rules of social interchange... limbic fluency...the ability to read the expressiveness of others and respond accordingly (asperger's syndrome and tone-deafness to social and emotional subleties) while having emotions is under limbic control, speaking of them is a neocortical activity...neocortex as the center of abstraction, language, symbol, problem-solving...Wernicke's area and Broca's area--regions of the neocortical brain governing the recognition and production of the emotional content of speech...crucial in determining the meaning of statements...aprosodia=the inability to discern the emotional meaning of speech. infants and babies have an intrinsic appetite for the expressiveness of faces...babies seek synchrony and mutually responsive interactions, especially with the mother...the limbic brain specializes in detecting the internal state of other mammals. limbic resonance=a symphony of mutual exchange and internal adaptation whereby two mammals become attuned to each other's inner states (63)...the door to communal connection...limbic states can leap between minds, such that feelings are contagious, while concepts and notions are not. J. Bowlby--attachment theory=human infants are born with a brain system that promotes safety by establishing an instinctive behavioral bond with the mother...M. Ainsworth: 3 forms of infant bond: secure, insecure-avoidance, insecure-ambivalent...based on limbic resonance between mother and child. protest/despair and their manifestations in behavior and physiology...crucial importance of an attuned mother. a relationship is a physiologicl process. limbic regulation=mutual synchronization with an attachment figure that regulates and stabilizes neurophysiological processes such as heart rate, body temperature, blood pressure, levels of neurotransmitters, immune function, hormones, salts, metabolism, sleep rhythms, etc. for adults, stability means finding people who regulate you well and staying near them; for children, attachment and limbic regulation are crucial in neural development itself...the mammalian nervous system cannot self-assemble (isolation syndrome) how does attachment sculpt a person...memory=the process whereby the brain undergoes structural change from experience. identity exists only because some neural pathways endure...combines with the plasticity of the mind, which indicates that neuronal connections can change. the brain's twin storage systems: explicit memory/implicit memory exposure to a style of relatedness imprints a person with its grammar and syntax that is largely implicit

This book is, unlike many other books in this topic, scientifically narrated. The main message is quite clear. However, I found it difficult to read in the middle of the book about when authors go to deeper detail. Also, do not expect this book for romantic love. It is more about love in perspective of evolution and family love.

Provocative, intelligent, beautiful book.

About the author

Thomas Lewis, M.D. is an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, and a former associate director of the Affective Disorders Program there. Dr. Lewis currently divides his time between writing, private practice, and teaching at the UCSF medical school. He lives in Sausalito, California.

Fari Amini, M.D. is a professor of psychiatry at the UCSF School of Medicine. Born and raised in Iran, he graduated from medical school at UCSF and has served on the faculty there for thirty-three years. Dr. Amini is married, has six children, and lives in Ross, California.

Richard Lannon, M.D. is an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCSF School of Medicine. In 1980, Dr. Lannon founded the Affective Disorders Program at UCSF, a pioneering effort to integrate psychological concepts with the emerging biology of the brain. Dr. Lannon is married and the father of two; he lives in Greenbrae, California.