erotomania

Erotomania, also known as de Clérambault's Syndrome, is a relatively uncommon paranoid condition that is characterized by an individual's delusions of another person being infatuated with them. It is listed in the DSM-5 as a subtype of a delusional disorder. Commonly, the onset of erotomania is sudden, and the course is chronic. This disorder is most often seen (though not exclusively) in female patients who are shy, dependent, and sexually inexperienced. The object of the delusion is typically a male who is unattainable due to high social or financial status, marriage, or lack of interest. The object of obsession may also be imaginary, deceased, or someone the patient has never met. Delusions of reference are common, as the erotomanic individual often perceives that they are being sent messages from the secret admirer through innocuous events such as seeing license plates from specific regions. Symptoms Erotomania is more common in women, but may be more dangerous among men due to the increased risk of violent and stalker-like behaviors. The core symptom of erotomania is that the individual holds an unshakable belief that another person is secretly in love with them. In some cases, the person with the condition may believe several people at once are "secret admirers". Most commonly, the individual has delusions of being loved by an unattainable person who is usually an acquaintance or someone the person has never met. They may also experience other types of delusions concurrently with erotomania, such as delusions of reference, wherein the perceived admirer secretly communicates their love by subtle methods such as body posture, arrangement of household objects, colors, numbers, license plates on cars from specific states and other seemingly innocuous or, if the person is a public figure, through clues in the media such as coded social media posts and meaningful clothing choices. Some delusions may be extreme such as the conception, birth, and kidnapping of children that never existed or the belief that the individual was predestined or chosen by God to be with the object of their obsession. The delusional objects may be replaced by others over time, and some may be chronic in fixed forms. Denial is characteristic with this disorder as the patients do not accept the fact that their object of delusion may be married, unavailable, or uninterested. The phantom lover may also be imaginary or deceased.