History
Early references to the condition can be found in the work of Hippocrates, Erasistratus, Plutarch and Galen. In the psychiatric literature it was first referred to in 1623 in a treatise by Jacques Ferrand (Maladie d'amour ou Mélancolie érotique) and has been variously called, "erotic paranoia" and "erotic self-referent delusions" until the common usage of the terms erotomania and de Clérambault's syndrome.
G.E. Berrios and N. Kennedy outlined in 'Erotomania: a conceptual history' (2002) several periods of history through which the concept of erotomania has changed considerably:
- Classical times – early eighteenth century: General disease caused by unrequited love
- Early eighteenth – beginning nineteenth century: Practice of excess physical love (akin to nymphomania or satyriasis)
- Early nineteenth century – beginning twentieth century: Unrequited love as a form of mental disease
- Early twentieth century – present: Delusional belief of "being loved by someone else"
In one case, erotomania was reported in a patient who had undergone surgery for a ruptured cerebral aneurysm.
Read more about this topic: Erotomania
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