We’ve all had a crush or 2 in our lives. Some say that it’s a part of life. You know, the guy from the coffee shop or the woman you always see in your office building. Most of the time we may smile or say hello and leave it there. Sometimes a crush may sneak into our fantasies and dreams. Still, most of us don’t take it beyond that point. But what about those people who see the line, walk up to it, and take a gigantic leap over it? So when a crush becomes way more than a crush and turns into obsession, there could be problems.

There are some cases where a man or woman falls for someone and irrationally thinks that person, sometimes a complete stranger, loves them back. This is called erotomania. Erotomania is a psychological disorder where a person has a delusional belief that someone else (usually of a higher social status) is in love and sometimes makes advances towards him or her. There is little known about the background or treatment of this disorder, but researchers think that erotomania could coincide with other mental disorders.

It’s okay for someone to “crush a lot”, but there could be an element of danger to this disorder or at least cause some really awkward moments. This is because it is common for those with erotomania to try and contact their subjects of affection. You may have seen stories in the news about fans trying to contact and get close to celebrities. Some stalking cases also fall into this category. Either way, more research should be conducted in order to discover possible trigger and underlying causes such as attachment and abandonment issues. We don’t know, but erotomania could be more common than we think.

Written by Chanel Jaali for Vitamin C Magazine 2012. All rights reserved.