Obsessive love disorder

ObsessiveLove Disorder

As thename suggest, Obsessive Love Disorder is a psychosis that involves the person becoming fixated on one particular person, developingextremely strong feelings towards them. However, this is not likenormal love, but is rather an obsession that the suffererexperiences. Love is one of the strongest emotions, so an obsessivefeeling of love can become a serious issue.

Themain problem with this disorder is that the love that is felt by thesufferer is not a pure feeling, but is actually a terrible fixationand a need to possess the person. If the sufferer feels a strongdegree of rejection from the target of their obsession, they have achance to develop a long term focus on acquiring their target person.This becomes a consuming fixation that takes over the sufferer'swhole life. If this disorder is not noticed and quelled or curbedearly enough, there is a chance that the sufferer will take quitedrastic actions to fulfil their desires. Although this disorder hasonly recently been named as an actual mental disorder, there aretreatments available in the form of psychiatric counselling andtherapy.

Symptomsof the Disorder

Thereare many different symptoms or indicators that a sufferer ofObsessive Love Disorder might exhibit. The first and most obvious isthe fixation on a particular person; sufferers generally believe thatthis one person alone will make them happy and nothing else will. Thesufferer may call or visit their target's home or workplacerepeatedly during the day simply out of compulsion to make sure ofwhere they are and what they are doing. Severe depression oremotional trauma is another sign of many psychological disorders.Aggression towards the target of the obsession for any perceivedslights may also occur, or alternatively the sufferer may lose allconfidence in themselves, seeming like they have given up hope, onlyto re-ignite their obsession at a later stage.

Thesufferer may already be in a relationship, in which case theobsessive feelings are usually felt towards their partners. They willtry to control their partner's movements or actions, eitherphysically or emotionally, and will ask many overlapping questionsabout what their partner is doing or has been doing. The sufferermight accuse their partner of adultery, even though there is entirelyno evidence to support the claim.

Treatment

Treatmentfor Obsessive Love Disorder includes cognitive therapy to help fix oralter any destructive tendencies. The childhood of the sufferer isdiscussed and any root causes are discovered and dealt with. Theimportant thing is to notice the symptoms early on and seek helpimmediately.