SYMPTOMSSymptoms
The main symptom is a person's false belief that someone is deeply or obsessively in love with them. There's often no evidence of the other person's love. The other person may not even be aware of the existence of the person with erotomania.
A person with this condition might talk about the other person constantly. They may also be obsessed with trying to meet with or communicate with this person so that they can be together.
Common symptoms include:
- obsessively consuming media related to the other person if they are a celebrity or public figure (Google Hrithik name everyday)
- constantly sending letters, emails, or gifts to the other person (3000 mails)
- persistently making phone calls to the other person
- being convinced that the other person is trying to secretly communicate through glances, gestures, or coded messages in the news, television shows, movies, or social media (Her mails talking as if his general tweets were for her or saying why he is still awake blah blah, even his innocuous dancing on her birthday party with his wife is assumed to be something else)
- creating elaborate but false situations in which the other person is pursuing them, stalking them, or trying to get in touch with them (Assuming he pursued her for Krrish 3, got engaged to her in Paris)
- feeling jealous due to a belief that the other person may be in contact with other "lovers or may not be faithful (Assuming his lack of response to her mails is bcoz he must be dating Katrina during Bang Bang, calling other actresses touching him as "public property", asking other actresses not to call him for preview shows )
- harassing the other person in public, sometimes to the point of being reprimanded or arrested by law enforcement (Nonstop harassment first by mails, then news articles, then calling up industry actresses/directors and for over 2 years hounding him via media)
- losing interest in activities other than talking about the other person or doing activities related to them (Forgot about talking about Reebok or her Film and kept speaking only about Hrithik)
Psychotic breaks
Erotomania may happen over a long period of time or only in short episodes known as psychotic breaks. Psychotic breaks are a common symptom of other mental health conditions. They involve an abrupt worsening of delusions or other psychotic features. They may occur in disorders such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar disorder.
Other manic symptoms of bipolar disorder include:
- having an unusual amount of energy
- not being able to sleep
- becoming involved in more activities than are typical for that person
- speaking quickly about many different topics in a short amount of time
- having a lot of thoughts in a short amount of time (known as racing thoughts)
- displaying risky behaviors, such as spending a lot of money at one time or driving recklessly
[Erotomania] is the delusion that one is loved by another person who is somehow prevented from declaring themselves... It occurs most commonly in middle-aged women who believe that a high-status male, who is known to them (e.g. their doctor or lawyer, or a celebrity), is secretly in love with them.
They imagine that he is leaving little clues to signal his interest (eg. significant glances or subtle signs like wearing a tie in their favourite colour) or contacting them through telepathy or the media. They return the perceived attention with letters, gifts, phone calls and visits.
If these are rejected by the "secret admirer", it is dismissed as a ploy to conceal their forbidden love and there may be escalation in the pursuit.😲
Trouble is, the truly deluded don't usually accept they have a problem and so are unlikely to present for treatment.'
Example of Erotomania:
A person with erotomania has a delusional belief that another person is in love with him or her despite clear evidence against it.
X Factor host Caroline Flack, 35, reveals all about an erotomaniac stalker she had never met in her new autobiography Storm In A C Cup. From the crazy and creepy emails' he sent her to the balloon, chocolates and I Love You' card he dropped off for her at work, Peter was definitely delusional. And it got even weirder at the X Factor auditions in Manchester: He kept asking to be let through, saying "I'm Caroline Flack's boyfriend and security twigged.' He even showed up at the Hackney Big Weekend with Radio 1 looking for her' and also wrote to head of ITV Adam Crozier, telling him he'd been in a relationship with her for over a year.
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