Psych · Forensic psychiatry — morbid jealousy and erotomania
Morbid jealousy and erotomania
Also known as Pathological jealousy · Delusional jealousy · Othello syndrome · Jealous type delusional disorder · Erotomania · de Clérambault syndrome · Erotomanic delusional disorder · Psychotic jealousy · Morbid jealousy forensic · Love delusion stalking
Exam-exhaustive fellowship reference on morbid (pathological/delusional) jealousy including Othello syndrome and erotomania (de Clérambault): DSM-5-TR/ICD-11 mapping, primary versus secondary causes, partner and third-party risk, stalking interface, assessment, pharmacotherapy and psychological management, organic and alcohol pathways, and forensic report principles. FRANZCP-primary, globally tagged.
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10 MCQs with explanations
Target exams
Red flags
Meet the patient
A 52-year-old man attends with his wife. For four months he has read her phone nightly, checked the odometer against her stated route, and woken her at 2am to "confess". No psychiatric history. A bottle of wine most nights.[1][4]
She answers each of your questions by looking at him first. When you offer to see her alone, he says that will not be necessary. Three weeks ago she had a black eye that a cupboard door explained.[5][6]
Two questions are now live and the marks are split evenly between them: is the belief delusional, and is she safe tonight? Every section below exists to answer one or both.[1][5]
You have read the opening of this topic. The complete unit — every section and its primary-source references — is part of the Psychiatry Fellowship fellowship atlas.
References16Show ledgerHide ledger
- [1]Mullen PE Jealousy: the pathology of passion Br J Psychiatry, 1991.PMID 1801774
- [2]Mullen PE, Martin J Jealousy: a community study Br J Psychiatry, 1994.PMID 8137108
- [3]Mullen PE, Pathé M The pathological extensions of love Br J Psychiatry, 1994.PMID 7866676
- [4]Soyka M, Schmidt P Prevalence of delusional jealousy in psychiatric disorders J Forensic Sci, 2011.PMID 21265838
- [5]Silva AJ, Ferrari MM, Leong GB, et al. The dangerousness of persons with delusional jealousy J Am Acad Psychiatry Law, 1998.PMID 9894217
- [6]Silva JA, Derecho DV, Leong GB, et al. Stalking behavior in delusional jealousy J Forensic Sci, 2000.PMID 10641922
- [7]Segal JH Erotomania revisited: from Kraepelin to DSM-III-R Am J Psychiatry, 1989.PMID 2675641
- [8]Kennedy N, McDonough M, Kelly B, et al. Erotomania revisited: clinical course and treatment Compr Psychiatry, 2002.PMID 11788912
- [9]Zona MA, Sharma KK, Lane J A comparative study of erotomanic and obsessional subjects in a forensic sample J Forensic Sci, 1993.PMID 8355005
- [10]Mullen PE, Pathé M, Purcell R, et al. Study of stalkers Am J Psychiatry, 1999.PMID 10450267
- [11]Mullen PE, Mackenzie R, Ogloff JR, et al. Assessing and managing the risks in the stalking situation J Am Acad Psychiatry Law, 2006.PMID 17185471
- [12]McEwan TE, Mullen PE, MacKenzie RD, et al. Violence in stalking situations Psychol Med, 2009.PMID 19215627
- [13]Manschreck TC, Khan NL Recent advances in the treatment of delusional disorder Can J Psychiatry, 2006.PMID 16989110
- [14]González-Rodríguez A, Monreal JA, Natividad M, et al. Seventy Years of Treating Delusional Disorder with Antipsychotics: A Historical Perspective Biomedicines, 2022.PMID 36552037
- [15]Cipriani G, Vedovello M, Nuti A, et al. Dangerous passion: Othello syndrome and dementia Psychiatry Clin Neurosci, 2012.PMID 23066764
- [16]Oram S, Flynn SM, Shaw J, et al. Mental illness and domestic homicide: a population-based descriptive study Psychiatr Serv, 2013.PMID 23820784