The word erotomania comes from the Greek: érōs, érōtos, ‘sexual love’ and -manía, ‘madness’, that is, a mental disorder caused by love, in which the person suffering from this disorder, also known as Clérambault Syndrome, obsessively believes that he maintains an impossible love relationship with a person usually of a higher social position or a famous person, which is unattainable and with whom he has had little or no contact, such as a political, social figure (an actor or actress, for example) or even a doctor.
A person with erotomania has a delusional belief that another person is in love with him or her even though there is clear evidence against this thought. It is an illusion. It occurs more in women than in men, who in turn suffer from a delusional disorder or schizophrenia.
Causes
It can be a symptom of a psychiatric illness, such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, major depressive disorder with psychotic features, or bipolar disorder. According to the latest studies, social networks can exacerbate the chances of the onset of this disorder, as they eliminate some barriers between strangers and can easily be used to observe, contact, stalk and harass other people.
Symptoms
The key symptom of erotomania is the determined and delusional belief that someone else is in love with the patient. Their behavior thus includes persistent efforts to contact through all possible ways, offline and online. These people can pose a threat to the target of affection.
Erotomania can start suddenly, and symptoms are often long-lasting.
Diagnosis
Diagnosis is complicated because it is a somewhat unusual pathology and even experts may not know how to recognize symptoms when they see them.
Treatment
Treating delusional disorder can be difficult because sufferers are unable to see that their beliefs and illusions are unfounded, so few affected people will seek treatment on their own.
Treatment should be tailored to the needs of each person and should focus on maintaining social relationships, minimizing the risk of problem behaviors, and improving the patient’s quality of life.
It can also include medications, therapy, and hospitalization. The latter is necessary if the affected person becomes a danger to himself, to the affected person for any other person.
origins
Erotomania was first described in the early twentieth century by the psychiatrist Gaetan Gatian de Clérambault (1872-1934), who was also a renowned photographer and painter, as he had a great interest in art.
His work in psychiatry focused on hallucinations and delusions, describing the erotomanic syndrome in 1921 as passionnelle psychose or passional psychosis in the treatise Les Psychoses Passionelles . Clérambault committed suicide with a firearm on November 17, 1934 in a commune southwest of Paris.
Reference: Erotomania revisited: clinical course and treatment. Kennedy, McDonough M, Kelly B, Berrios GE. Comprehensive Psychiatry. 2002
