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What is limerence? Signs to watch out for
From idealising the person to their actions heavily influencing our mood, here are a few signs of limerence to watch out for.
Limerence or love sickness is an involuntary emotional state where a person experiences obsessive thoughts of unreciprocated love or infatuated feelings for someone. Explaining limerence, Therapist Andrea Evgeniou wrote, "Limerence is a psychological term used to describe an intense and involuntary emotional state characterized by unreciprocated romantic or infatuated feelings towards another person. People experiencing limerence often have obsessive thoughts about the person they are infatuated with and feel a strong desire for reciprocation of those feelings."
Here are a few signs of limerence, noted down by the Therapist:
Distracting thoughts: When we are lovesick, we often find ourselves lost in the thoughts of the other person, to the extent that we are distracted from the matter at hand.
Idealising the person: We have the tendency of adding qualities in imagination to the person, who necessarily may not have them. We start to idealise them and see them as the perfect person we know.
Physical symptoms: Intense limerence can show up in the body as physical symptoms as well – loss of appetite, sleep disturbances and stress-related problems are some of the signs.
Obsession: The thoughts of the other person distract us so much that all we can do is become obsessed over them and keep checking their social media and other ways to know what they are up to.
Influence on mood: Our mood is strongly influenced by the actions of the other person. We often perceive their actions as acceptance or rejection – depending on the same, the mood also changes.
Strong desire: We strongly desire for them to reciprocate the emotions that we are feeling for them. Their validation becomes extremely important to us.
In order to get over limerence, we need to turn to ourselves, become self-aware of the emotions we are facing and try to find ways to keep ourselves occupied. Engaging in hobbies, mindful exercises and self-care routines are some of the ways to find happiness in ourselves and get over unreciprocated love or infatuation.
