这又产生一个问题，即是否可能和处理OCD一样，用病理学方式来“处治”这种浪漫状态。任何沉醉于爱情的青少年，他们的父母可能都想知道相应的答案。Fisher博士提出，抑制浪漫爱情的可能性确实存在，但只能是在感情发展的最初阶段。OCD的特征，是血液中一种叫血液复合胺(5羟色氨)的含量较低。如果Prozac等药物让血液中的复合氨在大脑中停留得比正常时间更久，这些药品就可能阻止浪漫感觉的出现。(这也意味着服用抗抑郁药物的人们可能正在危及他们彼此相爱能力。)真挚浪漫的爱情一旦开始，它就成为了地球上最强大的动力之一。Fisher博士说，这种欲望比食欲强大得多，一点儿血液中的复合氨不太可能扼杀心中如此强烈的情感。

Wonderful though it is, romantic love is unstable—not a good basis for child-rearing. But the final stage of love, long-term attachment, allows parents to co-operate in raising children. This state, says Dr Fisher, is characterised by feelings of calm, security, social comfort and emotional union.

尽管浪漫的爱情如此奇妙，但它却并不稳定——这绝非养儿育女的良好基础。而爱情的最后阶段，即长期的附属关系，却使父母在养育孩子方面得以精诚合作——这种状态，Fisher博士认为，它的特征恰恰是平稳感、安全感、社会性的慰籍以及情感的最佳结合。

Because they are independent, these three systems can work simultaneously—with dangerous results. As Dr Fisher explains, “you can feel deep attachment for a long-term spouse, while you feel romantic love for someone else, while you feel the sex drive in situations unrelated to either partner.” This independence means it is possible to love more than one person at a time, a situation that leads to jealousy, adultery and divorce—though also to the possibilities of promiscuity and polygamy, with the likelihood of extra children, and thus a bigger stake in the genetic future, that those behaviours bring. As Dr Fisher observes, “We were not built to be happy but to reproduce.”

因为三个阶段的系统彼此独立，所以他们可能同时工作而导致危险的后果。如Fisher博士解释的那样，“你可能对长期配偶有深深的附属感，同时你又因另一人而感受到浪漫的爱情，其间，你又由于第三位异性而产生性驱动力。”这种独立性意味着你可能同时爱上多个异性而导致妒忌、私通和离婚——尽管也有可能是乱交、一夫多妻、和随之而来的额外生育，即最终一个更大的预期基因赌注。正如Fisher博士所述，“我们不是为快乐却是为了生殖而被创造的。”

The stages of love vary somewhat between the sexes. Lust, for example, is aroused more easily in men by visual stimuli than is the case for women. This is probably why visual pornography is more popular with men. And although both men and women express romantic love with the same intensity, and are attracted to partners who are dependable, kind, healthy, smart and educated, there are some notable differences in their choices. Men are more attracted to youth and beauty, while women are more attracted to money, education and position. When an older, ugly man is seen walking down the road arm-in-arm with a young and beautiful woman, most people assume the man is rich or powerful.

爱情的各阶段在性别之间略有差别。例如，与女性相比，男性的欲望更容易被视觉刺激唤醒。这或许就是为什么视觉色情对男性而言更加流行。虽然男人和女人用同样的强度表达浪漫的爱情，也同样会被可靠、和蔼、健康、聪明和有教养的伴侣所吸引，但不同性别在选择配偶时还是有着一些显著的不同。男性更易被年轻和美貌所吸引，而女性更多会青睐于金钱、教育和地位。当人们看到苍老而丑陋的男人手挽着年轻美丽的女子漫步道旁，大多数都会设想此公不是腰缠万贯，便有大权在握。 ()