Erotomania is a rare disorder in which a person holds a delusional belief that another person, usually of a higher social status, is in love with them.
Erotomania is also called de Clerambault's syndrome, after the French psychiatrist Gaëtan Gatian de Clerambault (1872 - 1934) who published a comprehensive review paper on the subject (Les Psychoses Passionelles) in 1921.
History
Early references to the condition can be found in the work of Hippocrates, Erasistratus, Plutarch and Galen. In the psychiatric literature it was first referred to in 1623 in a treatise by Jacques Ferrand (Maladie d'Amour ou Melancolie Erotique) and has been variously called "old maid's psychosis", "erotic paranoia" and "erotic self-referent delusions" until the common usage of the terms erotomania and de Clerambault's syndrome.
Berrios and Kennedy (see references) have outlined several periods of history through which the concept of erotomania has changed considerably:
- Classical times – early eighteenth century: General disease caused by unrequited love
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Early eighteenth – beginning nineteenth century: Practice of excess physical love (akin to nymphomania or satyriasis)
- Early nineteenth century – beginning twentieth century: Unrequited love as a form of mental disease
- Early twentieth century – present: Delusional belief of "being loved by someone else"
Contemporary syndrome
The core of the syndrome is that the affected person has a delusional belief that another person, usually of higher social status, is secretly in love with them. The sufferer may also believe that the subject of their delusion secretly communicates their love by subtle methods such as body posture, arrangement of household objects and other seemingly innocuous acts. The object of the delusion usually has little or no contact with the delusional person, who often believes that the object initiated the fictional relationship.
Occasionally the subject of the delusion may not actually exist, although more commonly subjects are media figures such as popular singers, actors and politicians. Erotomania has been cited as one cause for stalking or harassment campaigns. The assassination attempt of Ronald Reagan by John Hinckley, Jr. was reported to have been driven by an erotomanic delusion that the death of the president would cause actress Jodie Foster to publicly declare her love for Hinckley.
Author and Booker Prize winner Ian McEwan based the novel Enduring Love around the theme of a science writer who is harassed by an erotomanically deluded person. The book claims to be based on a real case report which is included in the appendix of the book, although this case report is, in reality, also fictional.
The term erotomania is sometimes used in a less specific clinical sense meaning excessive pursuit of or preoccupation with love or sex.
Erotomanic delusions are typically found as the primary symptom of delusional disorder, or in the context of schizophrenia.
Erotomania was the cause of Angélique's (Audrey Tautou) institutionalization in the 2002 film He Loves Me... He Loves Me Not (À la folie... pas du tout).
See also
"Erotomania" is also the title of a song by Dream Theater, on their 1994 album Awake.
References
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Berrios, G.E. & Kennedy, N. (2003) Erotomania: A conceptual history. History of Psychiatry, 13, 381-400.
- Fitzgerald, P. & Seeman, M.V. (2002) Erotomania in women. In J. Boon and L. Sheridan (eds) Stalking and sexual obsession: Psychological perspectives for prevention, policing and treatment. John Wiley and Sons Ltd. ISBN 0471494593
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Kennedy, N., McDonough, M., & Berrios, G.E. (2002) Erotomania revisited: Clinical course and treatment. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 43 (1), 1-6
- Munro, A. (1999) Delusional disorder: Paranoia and related illnesses. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 052158180X
