Those missing an ex on Valentine's Day should remember that the source of their pain might not be love, but dopamine.
When rejected, the brain releases dopamine, which causes obsessive thinking and an intense emotional craving of that person toward his or her rejector.
UF freshman Kevin Olivier said he knows these feelings all too well.
Olivier said that although his girlfriend broke up with him four months ago, he is still dealing with these feelings.
"At first you start to think about what was wrong with you," he said. "But then you want them back more than you think you will."
After the breakup, Olivier said he thought about his ex and looked at her Facebook often.
Helen Fisher, who wrote several books on the topic, explains that rejected people feel abandonment rage toward their rejecting partner.
"Men and women can be furious at a rejecting partner, while still being very much in love with him or her," Fisher writes.
While being dumped does take a biological toll, it also has psychological and physical consequences.
"When you are rejected and emotionally hurt, the part of the brain that causes physical pain may light up also," said Ilan Shrira, a visiting UF psychology assistant professor.
Shrira said a common effect of romantic rejection is reactive depression, acute depression symptoms that stem from being rejected and lasts from one to two weeks.
During this period, the rejected person may not be able to think rationally.
Shrira said that romantically rejected people lose their motivation and often need advice on how to get their life back on track.
"How people handle the rejection differs among personality types," he said. "A narcissistic person with high self-esteem may become aggressive toward the person who rejected them, while someone with low self-esteem will become nicer to that person."
UF senior Jessica Funk said after her boyfriend broke up with her she went through a phase where she felt bad about herself.
"It was more me obsessing about what was wrong with me that he didn't like, than me obsessing about him," Funk said.
