Signs Of Obsessive Love Disorder

I have written in other posts (eg click here) on this site about how some forms of childhood trauma may lead the traumatised individual, in later life, to develop what has been referred to as ‘obsessive love disorder’). But how do we know how if we are suffering from this condition? What are the signs of obsessive love disorder?

Signs of suffering from obsessive love disorder:

Experts involved in the study of the phenomenon of obsessive love disorder have identified the following possible signs that we may be suffering from the condition:

– finding that people who used to be important to us, when compared to the desired one, no longer seem so important to us any more; instead, they seem to pale into insignificance.

– the desired one completely fails to reciprocate our feelings; instead s/he is indifferent, cold or hostile

– feelings of awkwardness, self-consciousness and interpersonal discomfort when in the presence of the desired one. Terrified of saying something ‘dumb’

– as a result of above, when with the desired one we become tongue-tied, our mind goes blank, our voice may shake or change tone, we may stutter and find conversation becomes very stilted or quickly grinds to a (from our perspective) premature stop

– we feel isolated and alienated from society, exacerbated by the fact that we believe that nobody could ever possibly understand the ardency of our passion nor the agony that accompanies the permanently abiding knowledge of our intense feelings remaining resolutely, stubbornly, adamantly, inflexibly and insurmountably unrequited.

– related to the above, we may hold the firm belief that ‘no one could ever possibly love, as much as [we] do’ the object of our desire

– find that we cannot stop thinking about the person

– believe that whether we feel ecstatic or despairing, both now and in the future, lies entirely under the control of the desired one and that, in relation to this, we have no, or, at best, severely circumscribed, control over our own destiny.

– feelings of lightheadedness/dizziness/faintness when in the presence of the person

– feelings towards that desired one can quickly fluctuate between love and hate

– seeing the desired one as having ‘transcended normal humanity’, almost as if s/he is, in fact, a kind of demi-god

– feeling that our own sense of personal identity is gradually becoming eroded away

– the object of desire is a person that we don’t know on a personal level or is someone we have never actually met (such as a film star)

– the person is, by any objective and realistic viewpoint, unobtainable

– feelings of wanting to ‘possess’ the object of desire, even involving fantasies of capturing and locking him/her up (as occurs in the novel called ‘The Collector’ by the brilliant writer John Fowles).

Above: Cover illustration of John Fowles’ brilliant book, The Collector. 

It’s Just An Illusion.

Sigmund Freud suggested that our IDEALIZTION of the desired one is a PROJECTION of our ideal self. In other words, we create in our minds a fantasy figure who possesses the ideal traits, characteristics, qualities and values that we ourselves would like to have and project these onto the desired one.

Therefore, the desired one, as we perceive him/her, is an illusion/fantasy figure created by our own emotional needs.

Freud pointed out that this was an immature form of love and that, if mature love were to develop for the desired  person, then our fantasy image of perfection of this person would need to be discarded and replaced by a more realistic (‘warts and all’) image of him/her.

It should be noted, however, that even within relationships based on ‘mature love’, partners often see each other through, as the expression has it, ‘rose tinted glasses’; this acts, unconsciously, as an adaptive psychological mechanism to help cement the relationship and, in evolutionary terms, provide a better environment in which to raise children.

MOVE ON FROM UNREQUITED LOVE – SELF-HYPNOSIS DOWNLOAD : Click here

STOP OBSESSIVE THOUGHTS – SELF HYPNOSIS DOWNLOAD : Click here

DEALING WITH OBSESSIVE LOVE – SELF_HYPNOSIS DOWNLOAD : Click here

Possible Causes:

Often, people who suffer from this tortuous condition have suffered significant childhood trauma in one way or another. This may have ncluded:

– abuse

– abandonment

– rejection

– neglect

– being made to feel unlovable / unworthy of love

Such experiences, in turn, may lead to us, as adults :

– feeling deeply inadequate

– feeling intensely insecure

– having very poor self-esteem

– becoming emotionally and psychologically dependent upon others

All of the above correlate with the likelihood of any given individual developing obsessive love disorder.

Resources:

Ten steps to overcoming insecurity in relationships – click here

EBook:

Above eBook now available from Amazon for instant download. Other titles available. Click here.

David Hosier BSc Hons; MSc; PGDE(FAHE).