The erotomanía also known as syndrome Clérambaul, is a form of delirium paranoid in which the patient is completely safe that has a relationship of impossible love with a person who generally is a higher social position or that somehow finds it unattainable (It can be a well-known public figure on television, politics, a doctor or even a priest, among many others). Thus, it constantly and persistently imposes unwanted sexual attention on an innocent victim. This type of delusion causes the behavior of the person who suffers from it to become stalking, and when he sees that he cannot achieve his goal, he ends up resentful and sad.
What is erotomania?
The erotomanía is a mental disorder based on the paranoid delusion that presents a person and is based on the safety of it by having a relationship impossible love with a person who is in a higher social position and almost unattainable.
Erotomania from psychoanalysis can present 3 phases: hope, disappointment and resentment . The erotomaniac is capable of investigating everything about the person who is the object of his desire, and can get to know him and do everything possible to provoke an encounter between the two, however, if in this encounter the erotomaniac does not succeed in getting the person to confess your love, it is very possible that you will go into depression, anger and disappointment.
Diagnosis of erotomania
Over time, psychologists and psychoanalysts have created certain diagnostic criteria to prove that a person suffers from pure erotomania, they are:
- Delusional conviction of being in constant loving communication with another person.
- The person to love belongs to a rank much higher than the person suffering from erotomania. That person has been the first to fall in love.
- That person is the first to approach.
- The beginning is sudden , from one day to the next, the person is in love with his impossible love.
- The love object remains unchanged , for them there is nothing that can interfere with their feelings.
- The patient has an explanation for the paradoxical behavior of the person, he has many excuses to explain why the other person does not follow in his footsteps or does not show his love.
- The course is chronic.
Causes of erotomania
The causes of erotomanic delirium generally arise from affective , organic-cerebral or schizophrenic disorders . It is accompanied by hallucinations of all kinds and leads the person to act according to their delusion , that is, as if that person were really in love with him or her. Currently , Clérambault’s Syndrome is included in the Classification Guidelines for Mental Illnesses under the name of Delusional Erotomaniac-Type Disorder. Other conditionsthat have lately been related to erotomania are: major depression, paraphrenia, mental weakness, fragile X syndrome, Alzheimer’s, recurrent mania, hysterical psychosis and borderline personality disorder, all these pathologies can become a trigger for the disease.
Symptoms of erotomania
The conduct of delirium so usually begins with stalking, the great hope and the illusion that the person is able to reach the love of the other, which ends in a great resentment.
Paranoid delusions may occur where the person ensures that he has managed to have a communication with that person with whom he is in love.
They have a fixation with the person to fill the void they have in their lives through the other. They are capable of conducting intimate investigations of the person they love, even seeking to provoke an encounter between the two.
They are people who are filled with anger , depression and disappointment at not being able to achieve their love goals.
The age at which it usually appears is around 30 years or more and it occurs more in women than in men, mainly in those who are single .
They believe that the love story began at some point, although their delusions revolve around a romantic relationship that has been idealized by themselves.
They refer on many occasions to the spiritual union that exists according to them, with their partner, who in the end is a victim of their delusions.
Erotomania treatment
The cure begins with psychological treatment and in some cases with appropriate medications that help reduce delirium. However, many doctors who have studied some cases affirm that even with antipsychotics the condition is not completely eliminated. Some people manage to improve through these treatments, although according to experts, it takes them many years to improve, even some of them never manage to overcome the problems that the pathology entails, especially in the field of love and relationships. interpersonal relationships.