HOUSTON—Sara Goodner has a major issue in her life, and she’s seeing a therapist to help her through her addiction.
But her problem isn’t booze, drugs or gambling – it’s love.
"The beginning is the high, you know the beginning of a relationship, and I was constantly chasing that high," Goodner said.
Goodner is a writer, but before she got treatment for her love addiction, she said she couldn’t concentrate on her career.
She was too busy looking for love in – yes – all the wrong places.
"I had affairs. There were really only maybe two or three relationships in my entire life where I did not cheat," she said.
It led to stalking, violence – even thoughts of suicide.
"I was crazy," Goodner said.
But she sought professional help.
"They have to get to the point of admitting that there’s some dysfunction or some disease about what their patterns are," psychotherapist Angelina Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez introduced KHOU-TV to another recovering love addict who didn’t want to be identified.
Rodriguez sponsored the woman as part of a 12-step program.
"I haven’t been in a relationship since this last one, and if I do, I’ll have to stay really close to the program," the woman said.
Now she sponsors other love addicts.
Meanwhile, therapists at the Memorial Hermann Prevention and Recovery Center say they’ve seen a rise in the number of women seeking help for love addiction.
One reason, they say, is the tough economy, the stress of which can cause all kinds of addictions to kick in.
"You know, what’s it gonna be like if I lose my job? And women who are single often will look for that man to rescue them financially," Ava Profota of the Memorial Hermann Counseling Center said.
Experts also say the Internet in general -- and Facebook in particular -- have fueled an increase in love addictions.
"And they start to date based on what they’ve seen on the Internet, and it’s not reality," Profota said.
Profota and other researchers point to P.E.A. in love addicts. P.E.A. is a chemical in the brain involved in the euphoria of love.
"And when this area is stimulated, it sends a signal up this way and just hijacks the judgment area," Profota said.
They believe it works the same neural pleasure pathways as cocaine, heroin and tobacco.
But just like those addictions, there is treatment, and it works.
These days, Goodner says she’s happy.
"I’m happy right now, I am. I actually prefer to be alone at this point," she said. "That’s a great thing, because it’s something I could never do before recovery."
