BPDRecovery.com: Forums

In Echoes' thread about bipolar and BPD, she posted a link that had it's own link to an article called "Addicted to Mother's Love." I don't know how to post links, so maybe someone can please do it for me.

The article talks about babies having a gene for opiate sensitivity, and if a baby is lacking this gene and has reduced sensitivity to endorphins, which are naturally occuring opiates, the baby may not feel relief from its mother, even if the mother is providing comfort. It says that the connection to the parent is an addictive type phenomenon.

It's more complicated than that, but I think that was the basic idea. This article was, I believe, from 2003, so I don't know what further research was done about this (didn't google it yet) but it was obviously interesting to me because of my "addictive-like feelings" for my T.

If a baby lacks the genetic component to gain comfort even when its mother provides it, this could be a cause of BPD. I'm always looking to be comforted by my T, though my mother was loving toward me. So maybe that's why I never felt secure; I couldn't "take in" the comforting. I'm always searching for that comfort and security, and it IS an addiction according to this article. I've been thinking since my session that I'm doing all right. I can be independent from my T but I feel better when I'm in the session with her. My need for the attachment to her is going to be with me always, it seems. I'm accepting that as a fact I can live with, not something I have to change. At least that's the way I'm starting to think about it.

Does anyone have any thoughts about this article if you can find it, or the idea it presents?

I think that there are children who need more comfort from their mothers than others. For instance, my mother told me that between me and my (twin) sister, I was the more cuddly one (that's not to say my sister didn't want affection - she did). I never questioned it, but I can see how it is an inbred phenomenon. So no matter how much love and security the mother gives, the child is not able to receive it. So I suppose it would be a chemical reaction in the child.

It sounds like some kind of neurobiological occurrence. Maybe scientists have been working on it for these past few years. Yes, googling it would be a good idea.

Hi Wondering

I don't have time to absorb it's contents just now. I can put a link to it here though. I believe this is the article you are talking about.

The Brain Chemistry of Parental "Attachment"

On the first read it brings up some interesting ideas.

Thanks, BG and Tracy. Thank you, Tracy, for posting that link. I've got to learn how to do that.