Falling in love is a wonderful stage of life that many people experience when starting a certain relationship. At that moment, the person receives all kinds of emotions in an intense way that over time stabilizes and strengthen such a relationship in such a way. All this helps the couple to become stronger in front of the loved one.
Limerence is a disorder that appears when the person has an obsessive need to be loved and reciprocated.
What is limerence?
Limerence is an obsessive and compulsive disorder that one person has compared to another whom they love. Such obsession with love manifests itself through great emotional dependence and certain obsessive thoughts that are not healthy for the relationship. It is one thing to be in love and another totally different to show certain selfish and compulsive behavior in the face of the desire to love and to be loved.
How to detect limerence
There are a series of symptoms that can warn that a person suffers from limerence:
- Everything revolves around the loved one. The thoughts turn into an obsession with the other person in the relationship.
- The person suffering from such a disorder has a great fear of rejection from the loved one. This generates great anxiety in daily life.
- Said fear that it is not reciprocated, generates a series of compulsive behaviors like asking all the time about the feelings generated in the relationship.
- Limerence can cause the person suffering from this disorder to have distorted thoughts of reality in a habitual way. This results in him losing control of his emotions.
- Thinking at all times that the other person can reject it, causes you to have a series of negative thoughts about the person you love.
- If the person suffers from limerance, he will idealize the loved one at all times. Idealization is so extreme that it cannot be assumed at any time that the person has certain defects or that he can be wrong.
- In the most extreme and severe cases, the person with the disorder consider that life has no meaning if he is not with the loved one.
- It is normal that if you suffer from limerence, the person has serious emotional problems such as anxiety or depression. Self-esteem and confidence are also undermined since they depend on what the other part of the couple thinks.
Ultimately, Limerence is an obsessive compulsive disorder that has little to do with being in love with another person. The relationship or the couple takes a backseat, since what matters is the selfish desire to be loved. It is a toxic relationship since the person with such a disorder cannot lead a normal life, revolving everything around the loved one. A healthy relationship must be founded on equal parts respect, trust and love. Love is a matter of two and it cannot be built as a result of obsessive and selfish behavior.