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Psychology’s most famous figure is also one of the most influential and controversial thinkers of the 20th century. Sigmund Freud, an Austrian neurologist born in 1856, is often referred to as the “father of modern psychology.”

Freud revolutionized how we think about and treat mental health conditions. Freud founded psychoanalysis as a way of listening to patients and better understanding how their minds work. Psychoanalysis continues to have an enormous influence on modern psychology and psychiatry.

Sigmund Freud’s theories and work helped shape current views of dreams, childhood, personality, memory, sexuality, and therapy. Freud’s work also laid the foundation for many other theorists to formulate ideas, while others developed new theories in opposition to his ideas.

Sigmund Freud Biography

To understand Freud’s legacy, it is important to begin with a look at his life. His experiences informed many of his theories, so learning more about his life and the times in which he lived can lead to a deeper understanding of where his theories came from.

Freud was born in 1856 in a town called Freiberg in Moravia—in what is now known as the Czech Republic. He was the oldest of eight children. His family moved to Vienna several years after he was born, and he lived most of his life there.

Freud earned a medical degree and began practicing as a doctor in Vienna. He was appointed Lecturer on Nervous Diseases at the University of Vienna in 1885.

Freud eventually withdrew from academia after the Viennese medical community rejected the types of ideas he brought back from Paris (specifically on what was then called hysteria). Freud went on to publish influential works in neurology, including “On Aphasia: A Critical Study,” in which he coined the term agnosia, meaning the inability to interpret sensations.

In later years, Freud and his colleague Josef Breuer published “Preliminary Report” and “Studies on Hysteria.” When their friendship ended, Freud continued to publish his own works on psychoanalysis.

Freud and his family left Vienna due to discrimination against Jewish people. He moved to England in 1938 and died in 1939.

Sigmund Freud’s Theories

Freud’s theories were enormously influential but subject to considerable criticism both now and during his life. However, his ideas have become interwoven into the fabric of our culture, with terms such as “Freudian slip,” “repression,” and “denial” appearing regularly in everyday language.

Freud’s theories include:

• Unconscious mind: This is one of his most enduring ideas, which is that the mind is a reservoir of thoughts, memories, and emotions that lie outside the awareness of the conscious mind.
• Personality: Freud proposed that personality is made up of three key elements: the id, the ego, and the superego. The ego is the conscious state, the id is the unconscious, and the superego is the moral or ethical framework that regulates how the ego operates. Conflicts and interactions between these parts makeup one’s personality.
• Life and death instincts: Freud claimed that two classes of instincts, life and death, dictated human behavior. Life instincts include sexual procreation, survival, and pleasure; death instincts include aggression, self-harm, and destruction.
• Psychosexual development: Freud’s theory of psychosexual development posits that there are five stages of growth in which people’s personalities and sexual selves evolve. These phases are the oral stage, anal stage, phallic stage, latent stage, and genital stage.
• Mechanisms of defense: Freud suggested that people use defense mechanisms to avoid anxiety. These mechanisms include displacement, repression, sublimation, regression, and many more.

Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalysis

Freud’s ideas had such a strong impact on psychology that an entire school of thought emerged from his work: psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis has had a lasting impact on both the study of psychology and the practice of psychotherapy.

Research has found that psychoanalysis can be an effective treatment for a number of mental health conditions. The self-examination that is involved in the therapy process can help people achieve long-term growth and improvement.

Sigmund Freud’s Patients

Freud based his ideas on case studies of his own patients and those of his colleagues. These patients helped shape his theories and many have become well known. Some of these individuals included:

Anna O. was never actually a patient of Freud’s. She was a patient of Freud’s colleague Josef Breuer. The two men often corresponded about Anna O’s symptoms, eventually publishing the book Studies on Hysteria on her case. It was through their work and correspondence that the technique known as talk therapy emerged. 

Major Works by Freud

Freud’s writings detail many of his major theories and ideas. His personal favorite was The Interpretation of Dreams. Of it, he wrote: “[It] contains…the most valuable of all the discoveries it has been my good fortune to make. Insight such as this falls to one’s lot but once in a lifetime.”

Some of Freud’s major books include:

• “Civilization and Its Discontents”
• “The Future of an Illusion”
• “The Interpretation of Dreams“
• “The Psychopathology of Everyday Life”
• “Totem and Taboo”

Freud’s Perspectives

Outside of the field of psychology, Freud wrote and theorized about a broad range of subjects. He also wrote about and developed theories related to topics including sex, dreams, religion, women, and culture.

Views on Women

Both during his life and after, Freud was criticized for his views of women, femininity, and female sexuality. One of his most famous critics was the psychologist Karen Horney, who rejected his view that women suffered from “penis envy.”

Penis envy, according to Freud, was a phenomenon that women experienced upon witnessing a naked male body because they felt they themselves must be “castrated boys” and wished for their own penis.

Horney instead argued that men experience “womb envy” and are left with feelings of inferiority because they are unable to bear children.

Views on Religion

Freud was born and raised Jewish but described himself as an atheist in adulthood. “The whole thing is so patently infantile, so foreign to reality, that to anyone with a friendly attitude to humanity it is painful to think that the great majority of mortals will never be able to rise above this view of life,” he wrote of religion.

He continued to have a keen interest in the topics of religion and spirituality and wrote a number of books focused on the subject. 

Psychologists Influenced by Freud

In addition to his grand and far-reaching theories of human psychology, Freud also left his mark on a number of individuals who went on to become some of psychology’s greatest thinkers. Some of the eminent psychologists who were influenced by Sigmund Freud include:

While Freud’s work is often dismissed today as non-scientific, there is no question that he had a tremendous influence not only on psychology but on the larger culture as well.

Freud’s Contributions to Psychology

Freud’s theories are highly controversial today. For instance, he has been criticized for his lack of knowledge about women and for sexist notions in his theories about sexual development, hysteria, and penis envy.

However, it remains true that Freud had a significant and lasting influence on the field of psychology. He provided a foundation for many concepts that psychologists used and continue to use to make new discoveries.

Psychoanalysis

Perhaps Freud’s most important contribution to the field of psychology was the development of talk therapy as an approach to treating mental health problems.

In addition to serving as the basis for psychoanalysis, talk therapy is now part of many psychotherapeutic interventions designed to help people overcome psychological distress and behavioral problems. 

The Unconscious

Prior to the works of Freud, many people believed that behavior was inexplicable. He developed the idea of the unconscious as being the hidden motivation behind what we do. For instance, his work on dream interpretation suggested that our real feelings and desires lie underneath the surface of conscious life.

Childhood Influence

Freud believed that childhood experiences impact adulthood—specifically, traumatic experiences that we have as children can manifest as maladaptive personality traits and mental health issues when we’re adults.

While childhood experiences aren’t the only contributing factors to mental health during adulthood, Freud laid the foundation for a person’s childhood to be taken into consideration during therapy and when diagnosing.

Literary Theory

Literary scholars and students alike often analyze texts through a Freudian lens. Freud’s theories created an opportunity to understand fictional characters and their authors based on what’s written or what a reader can interpret from the text on topics such as dreams, sexuality, and personality.

Final Thoughts

While Freud’s theories have been the subject of considerable controversy and debate, his impact on psychology, therapy, and culture is undeniable. As W.H. Auden wrote in his 1939 poem, “In Memory of Sigmund Freud”:

Delusions are fixed, false beliefs that conflict with reality. If a person is in a delusional state, they can’t let go of their untrue convictions despite contrary evidence.

Delusions are often reinforced by misinterpreting events. Many also involve some level of paranoia. For example, someone who is delusional might contend that the government is controlling our every move via radio waves, even with no evidence to support this belief.

Delusions are common symptoms of some psychotic disorders. They may occur along with hallucinations, which involve perceiving something that isn’t really there, like hearing voices or feeling bugs crawling on your skin.

Signs of Delusional Thinking

How can you tell if you or someone you love is experiencing delusional thoughts? Delusions are characterized by an unshakable belief in things that are not true, and in many cases, people continue to believe in them despite evidence to the contrary.

It’s also important to recognize that not all delusions are the same. Some delusions might involve non-bizarre beliefs that could theoretically occur in real life, such as believing that your spouse is cheating on you. Other delusions are bizarre, fantastical, or impossible, like thinking that you are responsible for the fate of the world. 

The nature of the delusional symptoms may play a central role in the diagnosis. Delusional disorder, for example, is characterized by non-bizarre delusions that often involve the misinterpretation of an experience or perception. Conversely, in schizophrenia, delusions may be bizarre and not rooted in reality.

Types of Delusions

Several different types of delusions can characterize the diagnosis of a delusional disorder. The disorder is diagnosed as delusional disorder and includes a specifier with XYZ type. For example, if you have grandiose delusions, your diagnosis would be “delusional disorder, grandiose type.”

Erotomanic Delusions

In this type of delusion, individuals believe that a person—usually with a higher social standing—is in love with them. An example of erotomanic delusional thinking would be someone who believes that an actress loves them and that they are communicating with them via secret hand gestures during their TV show.

Grandiose Delusions

In grandiose delusions, individuals believe that they have extraordinary talent, fame, wealth, or power despite a lack of evidence. An example of this type of delusional thinking would be someone who believes God gave them the power to save the universe and completes certain tasks every day that will help the planet continue.

Persecutory Delusions

Individuals with persecutory delusions believe that they are being spied on, drugged, followed, slandered, cheated on, or somehow mistreated. A delusional thought of this type might involve someone believing that their boss is drugging the employees by adding a substance to the water cooler that makes people work harder. 

Jealous Delusions

Individuals with jealous delusions might believe that their partners are unfaithful. For instance, someone with this type of delusion might believe their partner is meeting their lover every time they use the restroom in public settings—they also think that they are sending their lover secret messages through other people (like the cashier in a grocery store).

Somatic Delusions

Individuals with somatic delusions believe that they are experiencing physical sensations or bodily dysfunctions under the skin or that they’re suffering from a general medical condition or defect. For instance, someone who believes there are parasites living inside their body could be suffering from somatic delusions.

Mixed or Unspecified Delusions

When delusional beliefs don’t fall into a single category, and no single theme dominates, the delusions are considered “mixed.” Mental health professionals may refer to the disorder as “unspecified” when delusions don’t fall into a specific category or the delusion type can’t be clearly determined.

Causes of Delusions

Researchers aren’t exactly sure what causes delusional behavior and states. It appears that various genetic, biological, psychological, and environmental factors may be at play.

• Genetic causes: Psychotic disorders seem to run in families, so researchers suspect that there is a genetic component to delusions. Children born to a parent with schizophrenia, for example, may be at a higher risk of developing delusions.
• Biological causes: Abnormalities in the brain may contribute to delusional thoughts and behaviors. An imbalance of neurotransmitters (chemical messengers in the brain) might increase the likelihood that an individual will develop delusions.
• Psychological causes: Trauma and stress can even trigger delusions. Individuals who tend to be isolated appear more vulnerable to developing a delusional disorder as well.
• Environmental causes: Sometimes, people share delusions. This experience is most common in individuals who reside together and have little contact with the outside world.

Conditions With Delusional Symptoms

Delusions may be symptoms of a mental health issue or brain disorder. The following are a few conditions that are associated with delusional thoughts or behaviors:

• Brief psychotic disorder: When triggered by a stressful event, people can experience brief episodes of hallucinations, delusions, or disorganized speech. In brief psychotic disorder, symptoms persist for one month or less.
• Delusional disorder: People with delusional disorder experience “non-bizarre” types of delusions and can usually act normally, with no markedly impaired functioning. An estimated 0.2% of the population meets the criteria, so this disorder is considered a relatively rare mental illness.
• Dementia: Although estimates vary, roughly one-third of individuals with dementia may experience delusions. Often, these delusions involve paranoia, such as thinking family members or caretakers are stealing from them.
• Mood disorders: Sometimes, individuals with mood disorders like depression or bipolar disorder experience delusional thinking.
• Parkinson’s disease: The prevalence varies widely, but many patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease experience hallucinations and delusions.
• Postpartum psychosis: Hormonal shifts after giving birth may trigger postpartum psychosis in some women, and one symptom of this condition is delusions. Some research indicates that postpartum psychosis might be linked to bipolar disorder.
• Schizoaffective disorder: This disorder involves symptoms of schizophrenia—including delusional thinking and hallucinations—as well as mood issues like depression and mania.
• Schizophrenia: Schizophrenia involves “positive symptoms,” such as hallucinations or delusions. It also involves “negative symptoms,” including flat affect, reduced feelings of pleasure in everyday life, difficulty beginning and sustaining activities, and reduced speaking.
• Schizophreniform disorder: This disorder involves symptoms similar to schizophrenia, but, in this case, the symptoms are experienced for less than six months.
• Substance/medication-induced psychotic disorder: Drug or alcohol intoxication or withdrawal may cause some individuals to experience delusions. Delusional symptoms are usually brief and tend to resolve once the drug is cleared, although psychosis triggered by amphetamines, cocaine, and PCP can persist for weeks.

Diagnosis of Delusions

If a person is experiencing delusional symptoms, their healthcare provider will begin by taking a medical history and performing a physical exam. Lab tests may also be ordered to rule out any physical illnesses that might be causing the delusions.

If no medical condition is instigating the symptoms, the healthcare provider may refer the individual to a psychiatrist for further evaluation. Mental health professionals can use a variety of psychological assessments to learn more about the person’s symptoms. A diagnosis may then be made based on the criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR). 

Treatment for Delusions

It’s essential for anyone experiencing delusional thinking to seek professional help. This can be incredibly challenging, however, since people experiencing delusions often don’t think of their beliefs as a problem.

Treatment for delusions often includes a combination of medication and therapy.

Medication

Medications that may be used to help treat delusional thought processes and their resulting behaviors may include:

• Typical antipsychotics: These first-generation medications are used to block dopamine receptors in the brain. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter believed to be involved in the development of delusions.
• Atypical antipsychotics: These medicines block dopamine and also serotonin receptors in the brain. This leads to a different side effect profile than first-generation antipsychotics.
• Tranquilizers: Sometimes, tranquilizers are used to address the anxiety, agitation, or sleep issues that are common in people with delusional disorders.
• Antidepressants: These prescription medications may be used if the person with delusional beliefs is also experiencing a mood issue, such as depression.

Therapy

Therapy for delusions may include cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT helps an individual with delusional beliefs learn to recognize and change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors.

Family therapy is often part of the treatment for delusions as well. Through this type of therapy, family members can learn how to support their loved one who is experiencing delusional thoughts or behavior patterns.

Coping With Delusions

Managing the environment can help someone with delusions. For example, if a person believes that the government is spying on them through the TV, it may be best to avoid watching television. Or if a person believes they are being followed when they go out in the community alone, it may be best to have someone go with them.

Final Thoughts

Most disorders that involve delusions are treatable. This enables people with these delusional beliefs to live healthy, productive lives with relatively few symptoms.

Others with delusions do struggle to work, maintain healthy relationships, or participate in activities associated with daily living. If you or a loved one are experiencing issues as a result of delusional thinking, a healthcare professional can provide the help and support you need.

Have you ever wondered why you feel flutters in your stomach when you’re anxious or tightness in your chest when stressed? In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), emotions and physical health are intimately connected. This integrated mind-body approach to health and healing operates in a dynamic loop where emotions impact the health of the body and vice versa.

For example, according to TCM theory, excessive irritability and anger can affect the liver and result in multiple ailments, including menstrual pain, headache, redness of the face and eyes, dizziness, and dry mouth. Alternatively, imbalance in the liver can result in stormy moods.

Diagnosis in traditional Chinese medicine is highly individualized. Once an impaired organ system and/or emotional imbalance is identified, the unique symptoms of the patient determine the practitioner’s treatment approach.

How Traditional Chinese Medicine Works

Traditional Chinese medicine has been practiced for over 2,000 years, and its use in the United States as part of complementary healthcare has grown dramatically over the last few decades. According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, around 1% of U.S. adults used acupuncture in 2002. By 2022, this number had grown to 2.2%.

TCM is based on the principle that mental and physical well-being are intricately entwined. In turn, practitioners believe that optimal health is governed by balancing a person’s qi (vital life force) with the complementary forces of yin (passive) and yang (active) and the five elements of fire, water, earth, wood, and metal.

According to traditional Chinese medicine, emotions are narrowed down to five basic feelings that are each associated with a corresponding element and organ in the body:

• Anger with the liver
• Fear with the kidney
• Joy with the heart
• Sadness and grief with the lung
• Worry with the spleen

For example, under the TCM theory, breast distension, menstrual pain, and irritability during menses are treated with certain herbs and acupuncture points that target the liver. Headaches, dizziness, excessive anger, and redness of the face point to an alternative type of liver pattern and are treated in a different way.

The TCM Approach

What does the liver have to do with migraines or PMS? Organ systems in TCM may include the Western medical-physiological functions, but they are also part of the integrated, holistic body system. So, the entire mind and body may be evaluated and treated to improve a specific health concern.

The liver, for example, ensures that energy and blood flow smoothly throughout the body. It also regulates bile secretion, stores blood, and is connected with the tendons, nails, and eyes.

By understanding these connections, TCM practitioners explain how an eye disorder such as conjunctivitis might be due to an imbalance in the liver. Or, excess menstrual flow may be due to dysfunction in the liver’s blood-storing ability.

On the emotional side, the liver is connected to anger, which when out of balance, can be expressed in the extremes of excess wrath and irritation or as a lack of feeling, as in depression or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These mental health imbalances can be both symptoms and/or contributing causes of liver dysfunction.

In addition to emotions, TCM philosophy believes that other elements, such as dietary, environmental, lifestyle, and hereditary factors, also contribute to the development of imbalances and the body’s ability to heal itself.

Understanding the interplay of each of the five organ-emotion pairings is key to unlocking the healing potential of TCM. Below, we summarize traditional Chinese medicine’s beliefs on how the connections and imbalances between these organs and emotions contribute to basic mental and physical health concerns.

Spleen

The spleen plays an important part in the body’s immune system and acts as a blood filter, removing old blood cells, bacteria, and impurities from the body. In TCM, the spleen is linked to the following emotions and ailments:

• Emotions: Excessive mental work such as worry, dwelling, or focusing too much on a particular topic
• Spleen function: Food digestion and nutrient absorption, helping in the formation of blood and energy and keeping blood in the blood vessels; connected with the muscles, mouth, and lips; also involved in thinking, studying, and memory
• Symptoms of spleen imbalance: Tiredness, loss of appetite, mucus discharge, poor digestion, abdominal distension, loose stools, diarrhea, weak muscles, pale lips, bruising, excess menstrual blood flow, and other bleeding disorders
• Spleen conditions: Spleen qi deficiency, spleen qi descending, spleen yang deficiency

Lung

The lungs bring oxygen into the body and remove carbon dioxide. In TCM, this organ is believed to be connected to grief and the following conditions:

• Emotions: Grief, sadness, and detachment
• Lung function: Respiration brings energy from the air and helps to distribute it throughout the body; they work with the kidney to regulate water metabolism; they are important in the immune system and for resistance to viruses and bacteria; they regulate sweat glands and body hair and provide moisture to the skin
• Symptoms of lung imbalance: Shortness of breath and shallow breathing, sweating, fatigue, cough, frequent cold and flu, allergies, asthma, and other lung conditions, dry skin, depression, and excessive crying
• Lung conditions: Lung qi deficiency, lung yin deficiency, and cold damp obstructing the lungs

Liver

Digestion and the processing of nutrients are primary functions of this vital organ. In TCM, the liver is associated with anger, depression, and the below physical symptoms:

• Emotions: Anger, resentment, frustration, irritability, bitterness, and “flying off the handle”
• Liver function: Involved in the smooth flow of energy and blood throughout the body; regulates bile secretion and stores blood; is connected with the tendons, nails, and eyes
• Symptoms of liver imbalance: Breast distension, menstrual pain, headache, irritability, inappropriate anger, dizziness, dry, red eyes, and other eye conditions, and tendonitis
• Liver conditions: Liver qi stagnation, liver fire

Heart

The heart pumps blood throughout the body. In TCM, this organ is linked with joy but the imbalance of joy is expressed as either too much (agitation or restlessness) or too little (depression). Below, are the mental and physical ailments linked with the heart:

• Emotions: Lack of enthusiasm and vitality, mental restlessness, depression, insomnia, and despair
• Heart function: Regulates the blood circulation and blood vessels; responsible for even and regular pulse and influences vitality and spirit; connected with the tongue, complexion, and arteries
• Symptoms of heart imbalance: Insomnia, heart palpitations, irregular heartbeat, excessive dreaming, poor long-term memory, and psychological disorders
• Heart conditions: Heart yin and heart fire

Kidney

The kidneys remove waste and excess fluid to make urine. In TCM, the kidney is related to fear, which can manifest as chronic fear or anxiety when qi out of balance, as well as result in:

• Emotions: Fearful, weak willpower, insecure, aloof, and isolated
• Kidney function: Key organs for sustaining life; responsible for reproduction, growth and development, and maturation; involved with the lungs in water metabolism and respiration; connected with bones, teeth, ears, and head hair
• Symptoms of kidney imbalance: Frequent urination, urinary incontinence, night sweats, dry mouth, poor short-term memory, low back pain, ringing in the ears, hearing loss, other ear conditions, premature gray hair, hair loss, and osteoporosis
• Kidney conditions: Kidney yin deficiency, kidney yang deficiency

Other TCM Conditions

Below are a few more conditions related to emotional and organ imbalances that traditional Chinese medicine practitioners may diagnose:

• Blood stagnation: Chronic and acute pain
• Blood deficiency: Headaches, dizziness, and fatigue
• Stomach heat: Digestion issues

How Effective Is Traditional Chinese Medicine?

Despite the growing popularity and anecdotal evidence, it’s important to note that many TCM treatments and philosophies have not been vetted in the same way as conventional Western medical care. While TCM has been practiced for centuries and has been shown to be effective for treating some conditions—particularly those related to pain and stress—much research is mixed or unclear.

Interestingly, in some cases, the benefits of TCM treatments are correlated to the placebo effect. However, rather than simply dismissing the efficacy of those TCM practices, these findings reinforce the powerful (and, in many ways, still mysterious) link between mind and body in the healing process, which is the underpinning theory of TCM itself.

Your twin flame is purported to be everything you’re not and everything you need—they’re truly your other half. It comes from the notion or myth that a soul can be split into two bodies, or that one can have a “mirror soul”. This explains why twin-flame relationships are regarded as one of the most passionate relationships people can experience.

Since you’re likely wondering if you’ve already met or will meet your twin flame (not to be confused with your soulmate), you’re in the right place. We spoke to a relationship therapist and a certified hypnotherapist/NLP Practitioner to get more insight into the possible phenomenon behind twin-flame bonds, the eight signs of a twin-flame relationship, where the concept originated, and more.

Keep in mind that whether your potential lover is your twin flame or not, twin flame bonds only represent one idea of a happy relationship—you’re free to choose what a successful relationship looks like for yourself.

Do Twin Flames Really Exist?

It’s important to get this question out of the way—do twin flames really exist? It depends on who you ask.

Lastenia Francis, PhD, LMFT, a marriage and family therapist, and founder of Meaningful Emotion Therapy, who notes the possible existence of twin flames. Dr. Francis says, “It’s very common for people to have an instant connection. In fact, it can often build and blossom into more than that connection and lead to a self-discovery process.”

Based on what the general public and spiritual teachers say about twin flames, a possible explanation for deeply passionate relationships involves what scientists call ‘limerence.’

Psychologist Dorothy Tennov coined the term limerence after conducting numerous research studies on romantic love. Her work is based on the subjective experiences of those she interviewed, and the compiled observations are the basis of Tennov’s Limerence Theory.

Many of the people Tennov interviewed reported a deep yearning for another person. While some people’s love was unrequited, others noted their love was reciprocated.

So, while some people may not believe that twin flames are real, limerence suggests that it is certainly possible to feel a nearly unexplainable attachment to another person.

Signs You’ve Met Your Twin Flame

Now that you know a twin-flame relationship is possible, you probably have someone in mind. Maybe this person is someone you’ve known for most of your life. Or perhaps you came across a random person on social media and just had a hunch that there’s something special about them.

Regardless of the meet-cute, you just know that you’re really into them.

Though it can be tough to know for sure if the person in question is your twin flame, here are some signs that could indicate a twin-flame relationship:

• You feel connected to them: Twin flames are tethered by mind, body, and soul. It’s the ‘spark,’ or the magnetic pull you feel toward the other person. You may even feel like you need or crave this person.
• You feel like you know them: Considering your twin flame is your missing piece, you’ll likely feel a deep sense of familiarity and safety in their presence.
• You share an intense romantic passion: Romantic love and lust are intoxicating, and you will likely feel elation and ecstasy in a twin-flame union.
• You feel despair if you think your feelings are not reciprocated: If you’re unsure of how your twin flame feels about you, you might feel despair or even physical pain until their feelings for you are confirmed.
• You experience physical sensations: Limerence may produce bodily reactions such as sweating, a racing heartbeat, or trembling.
• You cannot control your feelings for them: Limerence theory suggests that limerent feelings are uncontrollable and involuntary. So, even if you try to repress your feelings, you likely won’t be able to when it comes to your twin flame, and it’ll be very hard not to think about them. You might even meet a twin flame even if you’re already in a relationship with someone else.
• You don’t feel this kind of intensity for someone else: It’s believed that you can only experience limerent feelings for one person at a time.
• Upon meeting, you fulfill a sense of longing: Twin flames spend the better part of their lives searching for each other. Upon meeting, you’ll likely find that a void in your life has been filled, and you’ll feel whole.

Where Did the Concept of Twin Flames Come From?

Although love is explored in numerous texts, movies, poems, and love songs, our general understanding of it and why it happens remains elusive and mysterious. But, Greek philosophy accounts for a lot of beliefs on love.

Twin Flames in Greek Mythology

The ancient Greek philosopher Plato sought to determine the meaning of love and did so in his seminal work—”Symposium.”

The “Symposium” is a dialogue consisting of varying speeches that explore the meaning of love. Each speech is an ode to the Greek god of love—Eros.

One of the speeches in the dialogue, given by Greek comedic playwright Aristophanes, introduces the concept of twin flames.

The Stages of a Twin-Flame Relationship

If we use the concept of limerence to explain twin flame bonds, the Limerence Theory suggests that there are distinct stages of a limerent union:

1. Initial meeting: A relationship begins when you meet someone you are attracted to.
2. Feelings of uncertainty creep in: After this person catches your eye, you wonder if they might reciprocate your feelings.
3. Obsession: This uncertainty may lead you to ruminate about this person.
4. Passionate feelings increase: Whether the person reciprocates your feelings or not, passion will be high at this stage.
5. A decline in feelings: Limerence Theory suggests that once a person’s love is reciprocated or denied, the uncertainty (which fueled the romantic feelings) dissipates. Thus, the feelings begin to lessen in intensity or decline altogether.

While these intense relationships often run out of steam, Tennov’s research does indicate that the passionate stage can last for a lifetime.

Are Twin Flames Different Than Soulmates?

Yes! Since limerence can be a possible explanation for twin-flame relationships, we can use Tennov’s observations and compare them to various soulmate definitions.

Kailani Raye, certified hypnotherapist and NLP practitioner who’s worked as a life and mindset coach for two years and founded The Four-Letter Project says, “When I think about soulmates—they’re the person we’re supposed to do life with. In the spiritual realm, I feel like people are tied to us. We have multiple soulmates. However, we don’t always end up with twin flames.”

Raye says that twin-flame relationships are often meant to teach us something about ourselves. “They [our twin flames] are mirrors being held up to us. That mirror will allow you to grow, develop yourself, and pull out traumas and triggers.”

According to Raye, our twin flames relationships will lead us closer to our soulmates.

Twin Flames vs. Soulmates

A twin flame is your other half, and a soulmate is defined as “a person who is perfectly suited to another in temperament.” Another definition of a soulmate is “someone who you have a special relationship with because you share the same feelings, attitudes, and beliefs.”

Based on the definition of a soulmate, it’s implied that your soulmate is someone you’re compatible with—this can be a romantic partner or platonic friend.

So, you might share similarities in character and personality with a soulmate. On the other hand, your twin flame is more than likely your opposite.

Can Twin Flames Break Up? 

Sadly, yes. Not all twin-flame relationships will stand the test of time. Dr. Francis says that “twin flames, like anything [any other relationship], have the potential to not be the greatest [union] because it paints an unrealistic expectation of such an instant connection.”

Additionally, based on Tennov’s observations, twin-flame relationships are likely to result in a breakup. Tennov found that limerent relationships last an average of two years. Lifetime limerent bonds, according to Tennov’s observations, are rare.

Can My Twin Flame and I Get Back Together?

Reconciliation in general, is always possible, and it really just depends on the people involved and whether or not they’ve made changes and can create a healthier relationship the second (or even third) time around.

Raye says, “People, in general, have the ability to change. Sometimes, you need to experience people, and, at the moment, they serve as a twin flame where you’ll experience all of your triggers and lead to many breakthroughs.”

She notes that following this period, you and your twin flame may need space from one another because patterns are hard to break when you’re still in the relationship. Raye also believes that “Anything that is for you will never pass you by.”

Raye notes that she has also witnessed reconciliation before. She says that some people found their way back to each other after having space and time to grow. After the healing period, she believes that “twin flames have the ability to step into a ‘soulmate-ship.'”

Are Twin-Flame Relationships Toxic?

There isn’t any conclusive evidence that says twin-flame relationships are inherently toxic. But Raye notes that the toxicity of a relationship really depends on the people involved in the relationship and their levels of emotional intelligence during their time together.

Obsessing About Love

If you find that you’re thinking about your twin flame a lot, it could become an issue. For instance, it is possible, to become addicted to love.

Love addiction (also known as pathological love) describes an obsessive form of love. A person with love addiction might become so interested in another person that they neglect other aspects of their life.

When a Belief In Twin Flames Becomes Unhealthy

Raye cautions people not to place too much of their relationships on the concept of twin flames. She states, “If we’re relying so heavily on this one thing [the concept of twin flames]” this belief can become unhealthy as we’ll begin to “disconnect from our own intuitive power.”

Raye suggests we still need to “be in control of our judgment, our thoughts, [and] actions.”

When to Seek Help

If you find that thoughts of your love interest are taking over your life, it’s recommended that you reach out to a mental health professional.

Also, if you’re experiencing any form of abuse in your relationship or feel unsafe, seek help immediately.

What If My Partner Isn’t My Twin Flame? 

It’s totally OK if you don’t know or are unsure your partner is your twin flame. Because most evidence suggesting the existence of twin flames has been gathered from personal anecdotes, it is difficult to know that twin-flame relationships are 100% real.

Dr. Francis says that it’s important to consider the commitment level in any relationship. “Most relationships can work if you are committed to the work.”

It’s worth mentioning that how you view your partner can also impact your relationship quality.

For example, one study noted that people who believed their partner was their ideal mate reported greater relationship satisfaction than those who did not believe they were in a relationship with their soulmate.

Given this, how you view your partner may have more weight than how you’ve decided to label your relationship.

Keep in Mind

Remember that the idea of twin flames (and soulmates) is highly subjective, and people develop romantic feelings for various reasons.

Also, love feels and means something different to everyone. What one person views as a soulmate relationship, another might view as a twin-flame relationship. Additionally, some people may not believe in either of these concepts.

So, before you start side-eyeing your partner and taking relationship compatibility quizzes online, understand that the goal of any relationship is to create a bond in which you feel safe, secure, and respected. With that said, if you’re happy in your relationship—embrace that!

What Makes People Fall in Love?

If you’re still worried about whether your special someone is a twin flame, other factors are said to play a role in what makes people fall in love (hint: none of them are twin flame- or soulmate-related).

Research shows that biological and personal preferences influence your attraction to another person. For instance, natural body odor, sex drive, and qualities such as kindness, intelligence, body shape, and commitment level are important factors.