Oxytocin and vasopressin are already sold as drugs with a variety of uses. However, neither will necessarily work as any kind of “love drug,” according to Young, although that hasn’t stopped some people from trying to get oxytocin for use on dates. But the scientific knowledge that could lead to such drugs is building.

Don’t wait. A drug to create true love might be 100 years away, Young said. Even then, its workings would be moderated by culture and environment. However, much sooner we could have drugs that might help couples in therapy to “open your mind to the other person, make you connect to the other person.”