Delusional jealousy - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Morbid jealousy is a psychiatric disorder

Mental illness

A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which is not a part of normal development or culture. Such a disorder may consist of a combination of affective, behavioural,...

in which a person holds a strong delusion

Delusion

A delusion is a false belief held with absolute conviction despite superior evidence. Unlike hallucinations, delusions are always pathological...

al belief that that their spouse or sexual partner is being unfaithful without having any, very little, or insignificant proof to back up their claim.

Definition

This disorder occurs when a person typically makes repeated accusations that that their spouse or sexual partner is being unfaithful, based on insignificant, minimal, or no evidence, often citing seemingly normal or everyday events or material to back up their claims.

Unlike other delusional disorders, people who suffer from this disorder have a strong association with stalking

Stalking

Stalking is a term commonly used to refer to unwanted and obsessive attention by an individual or group to another person. Stalking behaviors are related to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person and/or monitoring them via the internet...

, cyberstalking

Cyberstalking

Cyberstalking is the use of the Internet or other electronic means to stalk or harass an individual, a group of individuals, or an organization. It may include false accusations, monitoring, making threats, identity theft, damage to data or equipment, the solicitation of minors for sex, or...

, sabatoge, or even violence

Violence

Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...

. It can be found in the context of schizophrenia

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...

and delusional disorder

Delusional disorder

Delusional disorder is an uncommon psychiatric condition in which patients present with circumscribed symptoms of non-bizarre delusions, but with the absence of prominent hallucinations and no thought disorder, mood disorder, or significant flattening of affect...

, such as bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder or bipolar affective disorder, historically known as manic–depressive disorder, is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a category of mood disorders defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated energy levels, cognition, and mood with or without one or...

, but is also associated with alcoholism

Alcoholism

Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...

and sexual dysfunction and has been reported after neurological illness.

The name "Othello Syndrome" comes from the character in Shakespeare's

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

play Othello
Othello
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...

, who murders his wife as a result of a false belief that she has been unfaithful. Recently some workers have asserted that Othello was deceived rather than deluded about Desdemona

Desdemona

Desdemona is a character in William Shakespeare's play Othello.Desdemona may also refer to:People* Desdemona , a soprano role in the 1816 opera Otello by Gioachino Rossini...

’s alleged infidelity and thus did not have ‘the Othello Syndrome’.

Psychiatric History

Presenting difficulties: neurotic or psychotic jealousy
Jealousy
Jealousy is a second emotion and typically refers to the negative thoughts and feelings of insecurity, fear, and anxiety over an anticipated loss of something that the person values, particularly in reference to a human connection. Jealousy often consists of a combination of presenting emotions...
Past psychiatric history: neurotic or psychotic disorders, deliberate self-harm and attempted suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
Family history: mental illness including pathological jealousy
Relationship history: incorporating both the current and previous relationship and taking account of the quality of the relationships and the difficulties experienced
Forensic history: previous and pending charges and convictions as well as deviant behavior which was not reported or did not result in a charge or conviction (including aggressive behavior and stalking)
Medical history: organic causes which may be responsible for the morbid jealousy

Causes

Psychological-There are many psychological causes that go along with morbid jealousy. Some people equate morbid jealousy with a delusional state. Delusions of infidelity exist without any other psychopathology and may be considered to be morbid jealousy in its ‘purest’ form. For morbid jealousy to occur memories are revised and reinterpreted and the partner’s present actions are misinterpreted to produce an absolute conviction of repeated betrayal. It is thought that organic brain disorders may give rise to delusions of infidelity. It has also been recorded that morbid jealousy may be present with all types of cerebral insult or injury.
Personality-Insecurely attached individuals, especially those of the fearful and preoccupied type, may be at increased risk of becoming anxious about their partner’s attachment to them. Insecure attachment style correlates strongly with borderline personality organization.
Environmental- Associated beliefs may include the morbidly jealous subject’s suspicion that he or she is being poisoned or given substances to decrease sexual potency by the partner, or that the partner has contracted a sexually transmitted disease from a third party while the subject sleeps.

Forms

Delusions-are individuals own thought, egosyntonic, regarded as true, and not resisted. Some authors compare morbid jealousy to a delusional state (e.g. Enoch & Trethowan, 1979). Beliefs may include the morbidly jealous subjects' suspicion that: He or she is being poisoned or given some substance(s) to decrease sexual potency by the partner. That the partner has contracted a sexually transmitted disease from a third party. Lastly is engaging in sexual intercourse with a third party while the subject sleeps.
Obsessions- are individuals own thought, egodystonic, acknowledged to be senseless, and usually resisted. Jealous thoughts are experienced as intrusive and excessive, and compulsive behaviors such as checking up on their partner may follow. Egodystonicity, the distress caused by thoughts that are unwanted and viewed as contrary to conscious wishes) generally varies a large amount between patients and “a continuum from obsessional to delusional, which morbid jealousy has been suggested” (Insel & Akiskal 1986).
Extreme Obsessions- they are time taken up by jealous concerns, difficulty in putting the concerns out of the mind, impairment of the relationship, limitation of the partners freedom, and checking on the partners behavior. The obsessional disorder at the core of morbid jealousy to be a ‘true rarity’. Although a distinction was occasionally difficult to make, the categories of ‘psychotic’ (delusional) and ‘neurotic’ jealousy contained similar proportions (each between one-third and one-half).

Gender Differences

Men and women differ dramatically when it comes to morbid jealousy. Men who suffer from morbid jealousy they are more likely than women to use violence and also they are more likely to harm or kill with their hands rather than a blunt object. Women on the other hand, when using violence, would rather use a blunt object or a knife. Men focus on the rival’s status and resources when it comes to the threat of jealousy they fear

Fear

Fear is a distressing negative sensation induced by a perceived threat. It is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus, such as pain or the threat of danger...

. Women tend to become more jealous of a potential threat on their rival’s youth and physical attractiveness.

Sexual Disfunction

"It has been suggested that morbid jealousy may potentially arise in response to reduced sexual function”. Cobb (1979) drew attention to the elderly man whose waning sexual powers are insufficient to satisfy a younger wife.

Triggers

For men the strongest trigger is sexual infidelity and with women the strongest trigger is emotional infidelity. If partner related violence does not stop infidelity from happening the male mate will sometimes resort to suicide

Suicide

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

instead. The final resort to stopping infidelity inside of morbid jealousy is to commit partner murder. Women are much less likely to kill their partner, unless it is in self-defense. Morbid jealousy can occur in a number of conditions such as chronic alcoholism, addiction to substances other than alcohol i.e. morphine, cocaine, amphetamines. Organic brain disorders i.e. Parkinson's, Huntington's. Also with schizophrenia, neurosis, affective disturbances or personality disorders.

Associated Drug and Alcohol Use

Alcohol and drug misuse has a well-recognized association with morbid jealousy. “In two studies, morbid jealousy was present in 27% and 34% respectively of men recruited from alcohol treatment services” (Shrestha et al, 1985; Michael et al, 1995). Amphetamine and cocaine increase the possibility of a delusion of infidelity that can continue after intoxication stops. (Shepherd, 1961). Once case study by Pillai & Kraya discovered a man that was prescribed dexaphetamine for adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and he later developed morbid jealousy (2000).

Diagnosis

Mullen (1990) considered morbid jealousy to be associated with four features:

1. An under-lying mental disorder emerges before or with the jealousy
2. The features of the underlying disorder coexist with the jealousy
3. The course of morbid jealousy closely relates to that of the underlying disorder
4. The jealousy has no basis in reality

In Morbid jealousy, the overall basis of the psychopathological experience is the preoccupation with a partner’s sexual infidelity. The most common cited forms of psychopathology in morbid jealousy are delusions and obsessions.

Management

Biological

Treatment of the primary psychiatric condition
Antipsychotic medication
Antidepressant medication

Psychological

Psycho education for the affected person and the partner
Behavioral therapy
Cognitive therapy
Individual psychotherapy
Insight oriented psychotherapies
Family therapy
Couple therapy

Social

Geographical separation of the partners
Social work involvement for child protection issues
Alcohol and substance misuse treatment