Is Love a Disease?

Last week I attended a lecture by a guest speaker named Dr. Ealy. I must say it was very interesting, although I was not fond of his particular chosen mode of delivery. He was extremely knowledgeable about our topic of the week and I certainly felt as though my Tuesday night was well spent. He spoke of the Spanish play Celestina and that was the major focus of the discussion, yet it was actually something else entirely that captivated my attention. Dr. Ealy essentially associated love with disease or an illness. This is something I have never actually thought about yet in a peculiar way it makes a bit of sense. I have been in what I call love, or at least love in my definition of the term, yet I never actually looked at it as a negative, such as to tie it with words as sick, ill, diseased, etc. I find it inconceivable that someone in love would not enjoy it if in fact they received the same pleasure back from it. From what the professor was saying it is true that love is indeed a form of infatuation that can easily be associated with an OCD disorder. When a person is in love they sometimes simply cannot stop thinking of the other person making them obsessive. Is it normal to call a partner about ten times a day? I would say no but this happens quite frequently among couples. Sometimes, at least in my previous relationships I have found myself acting completely out of character. Looking back I am unsure if that was right. Has anyone honestly thought about their partner from the moment they wake up to the second they fall asleep, I am sure they have. Is this not a bit sick? To become so wrapped up in a love affair. The professor brought up another point that I found absolutely true. People in love sometimes say or do things they would never ordinarily in order to please their partner. Now why would someone do something they would never in a million years dream of doing unless something was wrong with them? Could love in actuality make us run on less than all our cylinders? These are but a few of the questions that I began to mull over during and after that lecture. Could love actually be a negative? Could love really be a form of mental sickness? I wonder……