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what is obsessive love disorder
sometimes love hurts love can be messy
and complicated but when you find
someone who you can truly say you're in
love with
everything else in your life starts to
feel a little brighter but is it
possible
to love someone too much what happens
when your love for someone
borderlines on obsessive to the point
where it begins to have a drastic effect
on your mental health
this can be a warning sign of a
condition known as obsessive love
disorder
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so what happens when your love becomes
obsessive and starts to affect your
mental health
obsessive love disorder or old is a
condition in which a person becomes
obsessed with another individual
who they believe they are in love with
this love addiction can lead to a number
of strange and unhealthy behaviors
such as overprotectiveness controlling
or
possessive behavior towards the object
of your obsessive affection
obsessive love disorder can potentially
be identified through a number of signs
and symptoms
often an obsessive individual
experiences an overwhelming attraction
to a specific person
leading to obsessive thoughts about the
individual until it spirals into a
full-on love addiction
these obsessive thoughts can lead to
feeling the innate need or desire to
protect the person you are in love with
and become extremely possessive and
jealous when the object of your
obsession interacts with people other
than you
another common element of obsessive love
disorder is low self-esteem
which can lead to a constant need for
reassurance and validation
from the person you're obsessed with a
person with low self-esteem who is
suffering from obsessive love disorder
might repeatedly
call or text the person they love to an
excessive
and obsessive degree it might even
constantly monitor the person they love
watching their actions and even trying
to control where they go
and what they do on a daily basis people
with obsessive love disorder often have
a hard time creating and maintaining
friendships
and maintaining contact with close
family members as their obsessive
behavior towards one specific person
begins to completely override their
mental health and consumes
all other facets of their life the acute
love addiction that happens as a result
of obsessive love disorder
has no separate medical or psychological
classification of its own
instead obsessive love disorder is
usually found accompanying other types
of illnesses
that affect the mental health adding
additional problems and complications
to an already painful and undesirable
situation
in addition to people with low
self-esteem obsessive love disorder can
often manifest in people with other
types of attachment disorders
such as disinhibited social engagement
disorder
and reactive attachment disorder
disinhibited social
engagement disorder or dsed is
characterized by individuals who are
overly friendly
talkative or uninhibited around
strangers
often to a worrying and dangerous degree
and can often make it difficult to form
meaningful
connections or relationships reactive
attachment disorder or rad
leads to individuals who are unwilling
or unable to form a close bond with
others
and can potentially result in bottled up
emotions
attention-seeking behavior and problems
related to addiction
in both cases these mental health
disorders develop during
childhood and can happen as a result of
poor upbringing
or negative experiences with parents or
caregivers
another mental health condition that can
be the leading cause of obsessive love
disorder is borderline personality
disorder
also known as bpd while the factors that
lead to the causation of borderline
personality disorder are currently
inclusive
individuals with borderline personality
disorder often have to deal with the
symptoms involving an
unstable self-image and low self-esteem
as well as frequent mood swings
impulsive behavior
and difficulty managing and controlling
one's anger when a person has both
borderline personality disorder as well
as obsessive love disorder
their perception towards the person they
are obsessed with and switch
on a pendulum between obsessive love and
extreme hate or disdain
on a frequent basis obsessive love
disorder can also accompany obsessive
compulsive disorder or ocd
ocd is characterized by a combination of
obsessive thoughts and compulsive
rituals that the individual feels they
need to perform
for that reason they might seem strange
or arbitrary to outside observers
other common symptoms of ocd include
individuals requiring a constant need
for reassurance
the inability to break from stringent
routines
difficulty keeping to a schedule and
signs of intense anxiety
while not officially recognized as a
subcategory of ocd
a related mental health issue known as
relationship ocd
may occur when an individual with ocd
focuses their obsessions
and compulsions on their relationships
with relationship ocd or rocd
individuals may have obsessive thoughts
doubts
or worries regarding whether or not they
are truly in love with the person
they are in the relationship with which
can lead to a constant need to
prove or validate the love they feel to
the other person
this can in turn lead to the constant
need for reassurance and verification
from the person the individual
is in the relationship with as we
mentioned before
like all other forms of ocd relationship
ocd can become a major detriment to
one's mental health
due to the constant seeking of structure
and stability that it causes
the type of love addiction caused by
obsessive love disorder may also be
caused by a number of different types of
delusions or facts or events
that one might believe to be true even
if they aren't
delusional jealousy can make someone
with obsessive love disorder believe
that another person reciprocated their
feelings of love and obsession towards
them
even if that isn't actually the case
another mental health disorder that
involves delusional thoughts is known as
erotomania while rare erotomania
is dangerous in that it evolves an
individual
who has become fixated on the idea or
notion that another person
usually a celebrity or other famous
person of high social standing is
actually in love with them
this can lead to the person suffering
from erotomania and performing acts of
repeated harassment towards the
recipient
of their obsessive thoughts and feelings
including
repeated phone calls letters emails or
gifts
stalking and similarly obsessive and
unhealthy behavior
this condition can occur over a long
period of time or it may
occur in only a span of short episodes
referred to as
psychotic breaks so now that you know
some potential warning signs and
identifiers for obsessive love disorder
what can you do when someone you know
begins displaying some of these telltale
symptoms
well first if you think someone you know
might be suffering from obsessive love
disorder
it's important that they get diagnosed
by a psychiatrist or other mental health
professional
because obsessive love disorder
intersects with a number of other mental
health disorders and conditions
it is not classified on its own so a
diagnosis
is necessary to rule out other potential
causes
because it often is attached to other
mental health conditions the treatment
of obsessive love disorder usually
depends on the underlying cause
most commonly treatment for the
condition involves a combination of
medication
and therapy specifically psychotherapy
drugs and medications that are designed
to treat anxiety and depression
as well as those designed to stabilize
the patient's mood can often be
prescribed to treat the effects
and symptoms of obsessive love disorder
of course side effects are always a risk
when discussing medication
so always make sure that you receive the
best advice for treatment
from a mental health or medical
professional and finally
all forms of obsessive love disorder can
be treated using therapy
various types of therapy may be employed
to treat obsessive behavior
with available options often including
cognitive behavioral therapy
dialectical behavioral therapy and talk
therapy
as with any condition that affects
mental health the first course of action
should always be to seek out a
professional
as soon as the warning signs begin to
present themselves
and to see your treatment and therapy
through to the very end to ensure that
the disorder does not return
or worsen in the future most of the time
love is a positive thing
but when love turns to obsessive
behavior and becomes a love addiction
that's when the possible warning signs
of obsessive love disorder begin to show
obsessive love disorder can be caused by
or be indicative of other mental health
related disorders
low self-esteem and other negative
conditions which affect mental
health so if you know someone who begins
to exhibit signs of this condition
don't be afraid to encourage them to
seek professional help and diagnosis
was this video helpful for you did you
notice anything we may have missed in
this video or
have any personal stories that can
contribute to the discussion of the
topic
if so we encourage you to leave a
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