Is love in CRISIS?

Will platinum anniversaries - heck, even paper - soon be a thing of the past? We ask the experts if lifelong love can survive

- MICHELLE HATHER

If you're one half of a couple who has found the past two years a bit of a struggle, you're not alone. As lockdown hit, one British law firm logged a 122% increase in divorce enquiries. Meanwhile, Citizens Advice reported a spike in searches for online advice about ending a relationship.

Love, it seemed, was in crisis. But it's not only because of COVID-19. Today, weddings are at their lowest level since records began, and the average duration of a marriage at the time of divorce is falling (latest figures stand at 11.9 years). Social commentators recently predicted the end of the job for life' - could the lifelong relationship be as outmoded?

Not according to neuroscientist Stephanie Cacioppo, whose new book, Wired for Love: A Neuroscientist's Journey Through Romance, Loss and the Essence of Human Connection (Flatiron Books), explores the importance of the romantic relationship. Statistics, she says, will rise and fall, but love will endure. Human beings simply can't do without it. Or, as the great George Michael once observed, we all need someone to put the 'boom-boom' into our heart.

'In this time of social flux, when more of us are choosing to live alone and are tempted to turn away from romantic relationships, we should take heart,' Stephanie says. 'The world is changing, yes, but love will change with it. Love will evolve.' Stephanie, who has her own tragic story of passion and loss (she met her husband in her late 30s and lost him to cancer a few years later), says love helps us to realise our human potential. 'It's as necessary to a person's wellbeing as nutritious food, exercise and clean water,' she says. But she adds, 'We live in a time when the environment that love needs to flourish is being stressed in new ways.