Lovesickness

The love sick Antiochus I Soter

Lovesickness describes the informal syndrome of rejected or unrequited love and covers physical as well as mental symptoms. It is not to be confused with the condition of being lovestruck. Almost all humans suffer from love sickness one or more times in their lives. Although typically harmless it can lead for some personalities to serious physical or mental illness, suicide or possibly even death. In psychology, love sickness is seldom acknowledged.

Symptoms

• Clammy hands and dry mouth are symptoms of being love sick.
• When the lover is not nearby, the love sick person may feel bereft, depressed, moody, tearful, anxious and preoccupied. The love sick person may also experience loss of appetite.
• A rapid heartbeat and other common effects of great excitement may occur upon seeing the lover, more so than usual.
• Confusion may result from anxiety around the lover. Stuttering, staring and clumsiness are all aspects of this symptom.
• Sexual arousal, desperation and extreme desire are symptoms that can build into an obsession with the lover.

Duration

Despite its intensity, love sickness is a passing state of mind, lasting anywhere from a few days, to a few months. It's difficult to retain the intense level of emotion that love sickness awakens in the body, often the feelings lead the afflicted to either express his/her feelings or as time passes, the feelings lose their power as the reality of getting to know the real person takes away from the fantasy.

Limerence

In 1979 The psychologist Dorothy Tennov, wrote a book called "Love and Limerence: The Experience of Being in Love". In it she goes into detail about the experience of being in love and the effects it has on the body and mind.