love's prison of self-reference

a person with de clerambault's syndrome, such as jed parry, will form an obsessional erotic attachment to a person of higher social standing with whom he has had minimal contact, such as joe rose. he will persist in his delusion that the object of his affection returns his love, despite no outward confirmation of this belief. in fact, he will be quite convinced that romantic designs are being tacitly communicated to him through the use of covert signs and signals. any resistance presented by the beloved will be understood as tests of faith to which he must respond with renewed devotion. he will attribute great power and importance to this fantasied bond, commiting himself entirely to the project of its actualization.

"the pathological extensions of love not only touch upon but overlap with normal experience, and it is not always easy to accept that one of our most valued experiences may merge into psychopathology." ~mullen & pathe