SMITTEN: Romantic Obsession, the Neuroscience of Limerence and How to Make Love Last
Psychology, 224 pages
Watkins Media/St Martins Press, 2025
“Butterflies” in the stomach, intrusive thoughts, fantasies about imaginary scenarios, mood swings from euphoria to despair… aren't these all the familiar hallmarks of new love? Not quite. These are characteristics of the psychological state of “limerence”, also known as obsessive, passionate or addictive love that can become unhealthy.
Millions of people will experience limerence at some point in their life, and in this book, neuroscientist Dr Tom Bellamy explores advances in neuroscience since the term was coined in the 1970s, and sheds light on this little-understood element of the human experience. Discover:
What drives limerence
How to recognise limerence in yourself and others
How to manage the phases of addiction to another person
How to move past it to sustain longer, more fulfilling relationships.
With supportive advice about next steps, this book will help readers struggling with unwanted feelings to find emotional equilibrium.
Dr. TOM BELLAMY
Agent: Juliet Pickering
Assistant: Finlay Charlesworth
Dr Tom Bellamy is a neuroscientist and honorary Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham. He received a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCL in 2001 and held a personal fellowship at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge from 2004 to 2010. He has published over 40 scientific papers, abstracts and chapters on esoteric aspects of neurophysiology. He now writes about how the fundamental mechanisms of the brain can help us understand human behaviour, with a particular focus on limerence – an obsessive form of love.
He currently contributes to the Psychology Today blog, Everyday Neuroscience, alongside continuing his enormously popular website and blog Living with Limerence and YouTube channel.
His first book, SMITTEN: Romantic Obsession, The Neuroscience of Limerence, and How to Make Love Last, was published in the UK by Watkins and Bolinda in Spring 2025, with an American publication by St Martin’s Press forthcoming in 2026.