For the love addict grief goes beyond the normal stages of the grieving process where they get stuck in one or more of the levels of grief, which turns into extremely painful withdrawal.

 They ache, throb, and desperately want relief. They experience a deep yearning and obsession to have any connection with their lost partner. Because they identified mostly through their partners eyes, they feel a loss of self identity because the symbiotic attachment (the addiction) is now gone. It is life without the medication--coming down from the unrealistic fantasy to reality, no longer available to numb and deny the self. Withdrawal in addiction occurs when an addictive substance or behavior is stopped. Except, with love addiction being a process addiction (a process addiction is a behavioral/thought addiction), withdrawal symptoms occur when a relationship comes to end. Sometimes, withdrawal symptoms occur sometime before a relationship ends because of the anticipation of it ending by the love addict. Addicts must continue the behavior or use of a substance in order to feel a continued high or just to feel normal as tolerance increases. When the addiction is halted or removed from the addict for any reason, inevitable withdrawal symptoms will be triggered-- this is what happens when a love addicts relationship is broken.

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