According to recent research, people are romantically drawn to others who have the same mental issues as they do—which isn’t necessarily the recipe for madness it might sound like.
They say love drives us crazy and, according to recent research, that drive might be shorter for some people than others. According to the Laureate Institute for Brain Research, couples who go nuts for each other are more likely to get hitched when they share the same mental health struggles. In plain English, those matching prescription bottles between the emotionally troubled are more of an indication that the relationship is headed to the next level faster than a sudden mood swing. When it comes to being “crazy in love,” maybe we’ve misinterpreted the phrase all along. Perhaps it’s not two people clobbered into a state of mania due to raging hormones, but maybe it’s love’s uncanny way of bringing together the mentally unwell.
After studying nearly 15 million people around the world, researchers discovered that love has a way of pairing up the unhinged. The study examined a veritable buffet of psychiatric conditions—schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, ADHD, autism, OCD, substance-use disorder and anorexia—and found that people are significantly more likely to marry someone else who also has a mental health condition. And not just any disorder, but often the exact same one. The study found that this pattern held true “across countries, cultures and generations,” suggesting that the global language of love might just be mutual dysfunction. Whether you’re Swedish, Brazilian or from Bumfuck, Ohio, it seems Cupid doesn’t aim for the heart—that bastard is firing right at the serotonin receptors.
“I have bipolar [disorder], type 2, and my husband, I’m pretty sure, is undiagnosed. We’ve been together for 13 years.”
Shelly
So maybe that’s what they mean by “finding your soulmate.” It’s getting with someone whose anxiety matches yours, whose bad days make them want to stay in bed all day just as much as you do and just forget about the world. Forget the fairytale nonsense perpetuated by the rom-coms. Perhaps romance is less about roses and chocolate and more about sharing your prescription when your insurance gets revoked due to Trump’s policies. Maybe modern love looks more like sharing the number to your therapist and maybe a support group. Turns out, the couple that spirals together, stays together. “I have bipolar [disorder], type 2, and my husband, I’m pretty sure, is undiagnosed,” Shelly, 34, tells HUSTLERMagazine.com. “We’ve been together for 13 years.”
