Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer
FrancoAngeli Journals

Gestalt in azione/Gestalt in action, edited by Elisabetta Conte e Noemi Rovetto

No. 1 (2026): Belonging and Self-Regulation in Gestalt Psychotherapy

Love addiction and post-modernity: the crisis of belonging

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3280/qg2026-1oa19975
Submitted
aprile 22, 2025
Published
2026-06-30

Abstract

After a brief diagnostic and terminological overview, the article focuses on exploring the construct of love addiction as a pathology of belonging, placing the concept within the broader socio-cultural framework of post-modernity or liquid modernity. The presence of a background marked by the precariousness of belonging experiences, further supported on a developmental level by a lack of primary attunement, promotes the development of a figure - love addiction - characterized by pathological forms of belonging. The article delves into the notions of tenuous belonging and toxic belonging as different types of dysfunctional belonging within love addiction. The former is typical of stagnant, monotonous relationships where a static dynamic prevails, yet is difficult to change. The latter involves the emotional highs and lows of intense and destructive relationships and may be associated with gender-based violence. The work then addresses therapeutic pathways, which must first and foremost be sought in the construction of a positive experience of self-belonging, which goes hand in hand with belonging to the therapeutic relationship. This is not an easy experience to achieve, precisely because of the love addicted’s difficulty in trusting and authentically engaging in intimacy with their therapist. The article then emphasizes the importance of enriching the patient’s background of belonging, in order to later focus on the figure - namely, the tenuous or toxic belonging - that may be desirable for the patient to dissolve. Finally, it concludes with a reflection on the return of the concept of “community,” understood as a natural and therapeutic experience of belonging, which must be founded not on fear and the identification of a common external enemy, but on solidarity and intimacy.

References

  1. Acevedo B.P., Aron A., Fisher H., Brown L.L. (2011). Neural correlates of long-term intense romantic love. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 7: 145–159. DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsq092.
  2. Antonelli P. Le dipendenze affettive. Quando amare fa male. Firenze: Giunti, 2022.
  3. Aron A., Fisher H.E., Mashek D.J., Strong G., Li H., Brown L.L. (2005). Reward, motivation, and emotion systems associated with early-stage intense romantic love. Journal of Neurophysiology, 94(1): 327-337. DOI: 10.1152/jn.00838.2004.
  4. Augé M. Non-lieux. Introduction à une anthropologie de la surmodernité. Paris: Éditions de Seuil, 1992. Trad. it.: “Nonluoghi: introduzione a una antropologia della surmodernità”. Milano: Elèuthera, 1996.
  5. Bartels A., Zeki S. (2000). The neural basis of romantic love. Neuroreport, 11(17): 3829-3834. DOI: 10.1097/00001756-200011270-00046.
  6. Bartels A., Zeki S. (2004). The neural correlates of maternal and romantic love. NeuroImage, 21: 1155-1166. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2003.11.003.
  7. Bauman Z. Liquid modernity. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2000. Trad. it.: “Modernità liquida”. Roma-Bari: Laterza, 2002.
  8. Borgioni M. Dipendenza e contro-dipendenza affettiva. Roma: Alpes Italia, 2015.
  9. Camus A. (1945). “Lettres à un ami allemand”. In Œuvres complètes II, 1944-1948, Paris: Gallimard, 2006.
  10. Cantelmi T., Pensavalli M., Serafini P. (2021). Il gaslighting come forma di abuso emotivo nella relazione di dipendenza affettiva. Modelli della mente, 1: 51-82. Franco Angeli, Milano. DOI: 10.3280/mdm1-2021oa12639.
  11. Elias N. The society of individuals. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 1987. Trad. it.: “La società degli individui”. Bologna: Il Mulino, 1990.
  12. Fenichel O. The psychoanalytic theory of neuroses. New York: Norton Press, 1945.
  13. Fisher H.E., Aron A., Mashek D., Strong G., Li H., Brown L.L. (2003). Early stage intense romantic love activates cortical-basal-ganglia reward/motivation, emotion and attention systems: an fMRI study of a dynamic network that varies with relationship length, passion intensity and gender. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, New Orleans.
  14. Fisher H.E., Brown L.L., Aron A., Strong G., Mashek D. (2010). Reward, addiction, and emotion regulation systems associated with rejection in love. Journal of Neurophysiology, 104: 51–60. DOI: 10.1152/jn.00784.2009.
  15. Galimberti U. Le cose dell’amore. Milano: Feltrinelli, 2013.
  16. Lewin K. La teoria, la ricerca, l’intervento, (a cura di) F.P. Colucci, Bologna: Il Mulino, 2005.
  17. Limiti, M. (2019). L’amore che fa male: una lettura gestaltica della dipendenza affettiva. Quaderni di Gestalt XXXII, 2: 99-114. Franco Angeli, Milano.
  18. Lyotard J.F. La condition postmoderne. Rapport sur le savoir. Paris: Les Éditions de Minuit, 1979. Trad. it.: “La condizione postmoderna. Rapporto sul sapere”. Milano: Feltrinelli, 2002.
  19. Norwood R. Women who love too much. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1985. Trad. it.: “Donne che amano troppo”. Milano: Feltrinelli, 1989.
  20. Ortigue S., Bianchi-Demicheli F., Hamilton A.F., Grafton S.T. (2007). The neural basis of love as a subliminal prime: an event-related fMRI study. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 19: 1218–1230. DOI: 10.1162/jocn.2007.19.7.1218.
  21. Panksepp J., Biven L. The archeology of mind: neuroevolutionary origins of human emotions. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. Trad. it.: “Archeologia della mente: origini neuroevolutive delle emozioni umane”. Milano: Raffaello Cortina, 2014.
  22. Peele S., Brodsky A. Love and addiction. New York: Taplinger, 1975.
  23. Perera-Diltz, D.M., Laux, J.M., Toman, S.M. (2012). A cross-cultural exploration of posttraumatic stress disorder: assessment, diagnosis, and recommended (Gestalt) treatment. Gestalt Review, 16 (1): 69-87. DOI: 10.5325/gestaltreview.16.1.0069.
  24. Pintus G. (2011). “Tempo e relazione nel vissuto dipendente. Percorsi ermeneutici e clinici”. In La psicoterapia della Gestalt contemporanea (a cura di) Menditto M., Milano: Franco Angeli, 203-210.
  25. Pintus G., Crolle Santi M.V. La relazione assoluta. Psicoterapia della Gestalt e dipendenze patologiche. Ariccia: Aracne Editrice, 2014.
  26. Pintus G., Pappalardo N.G. (2019). Sintonizzazione genitoriale, riconoscimento degli stati affettivi e vulnerabilità alle addiction: alcuni dati di ricerca. Quaderni di Gestalt XXXII, 2: 79-97. Milano: Franco Angeli.
  27. Pintus G., Petrosino B. (2024). La ricaduta nell’addiction come espressione del “crollo dello sfondo”. Quaderni di Gestalt XXXVII, 2: 11-31. Milano: Franco Angeli. DOI: 10.3280/qg2024-2oa18194.
  28. Pugliese E., Saliani A.M., Mancini F. (2019). Un modello cognitivo delle dipendenze affettive patologiche. Psicobiettivo, 1: 43-58. Franco Angeli, Milano. DOI: 10.3280/PSOB2019-001005.
  29. Reynaud M., Karila L., Blecha L., Benyamina A. (2010). Is love passion an addictive disorder? The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 36(5): 261-267. DOI: 10.3109/00952990.2010.495183.
  30. Sennett R. The corrosion of character: the personal consequences of work in the new capitalism. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1998. Trad. it.: “L’uomo flessibile: le conseguenze del nuovo capitalismo sulla vita personale”. Milano: Feltrinelli, 2000.
  31. Serok, S. (1985). Implications of Gestalt therapy with post traumatic patients. Gestalt Journal, 8 (1): 78-89.
  32. Spagnuolo Lobb M. Il now-for-next in psicoterapia. La psicoterapia della Gestalt raccontata nella società post-moderna. Milano: Franco Angeli, 2011.
  33. Spagnuolo Lobb M. (2012). Lo sviluppo polifonico dei domini. Verso una prospettiva evolutiva della psicoterapia della Gestalt. Quaderni di Gestalt XXV, 2: 31-50. Milano: Franco Angeli.
  34. Vidakovic, I. (2013). “The power of “moving on”: a gestalt therapy approach to trauma treatment”. In G. Francesetti, M. Gecele, J. Roubal (Eds.), Gestalt therapy in clinical practice: from psychopathology to the aesthetics of contact, Siracusa: Istituto di Gestalt HCC Italy, 308-323.
  35. Willi J. (1982). Couples in collusion. University of Michigan: J. Aronson in collaboration with Hunter House. Trad. it.: “La collusione di coppia”. Milano: Franco Angeli, 1986.
  36. Xu X., Aron A., Brown L.L., Cao G., Feng T., Weng X. (2011). Reward and motivation systems: a brain mapping study of early-stage intense romantic love in Chinese participants. Human Brain Mapping, 32(2): 249-257. DOI: 10.1002/hbm.21017.