Lovesick. Longing. Limerent. In 1979, psychologist Dorothy Tennov first coined the term “limerence” in her book Love and Limerence: The Experience of Being In Love to describe an involuntary state of deep obsession and infatuation with another person. She interviewed 500 people in the throes of an obsessive love, sometimes on an unhealthy level. Limerence includes a sense of being emotionally dependent on the object of your affections, devastation if these feelings are not reciprocated, and fantasies about the other person which can border on extreme and elaborate.

Note: the concept of limerence should not be applied to relationships with a narcissist, which is more likely to stem from a trauma bond (from the victim’s end) or more accurately described as idealization from the narcissist’s end. 

Read the full article at Thought Catalog.

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