Erotomania: a conceptual history.
Four historical convergences are identified in the history of erotomania. According to the first, which lasted from Classical times to the early eighteenth century, erotomania was a 'general disease caused by unrequited love'. According to the second, erotomania was a disease of 'excessive physical love (nymphomania)'; this view remained active well into the nineteenth century. The third convergence focuses on the view that erotomania is a form of 'mental disorder', and this was held throughout the twentieth century. The fourth and current definition (a development of the third stage) sees erotomania as a 'the delusional belief of being loved by someone else'. Differences between Anglo-Saxon and French views cast doubt on the meaning or coherence of the much-abused English eponym 'de Clérambault syndrome'. Erotomania is a construct, a mirror reflecting Western views on spiritual and physical love, sex, and gender inequality and abuse. On account of this, it is unlikely that there will ever be a final, 'scientific' definition rendering erotomania into a 'natural kind' and making it susceptible to brain localization and biological treatment.
Berrios
G E
GE
Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, UK. geb11@cam.ac.uk
Kennedy
N
N
D049690:History, Ancient; D049692:History, Early Modern 1451-1600; D049691:History, Medieval; D049711:History, Modern 1601-; D008149:Love; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000266:history*; D009626:Terminology as Topic