A distinction is drawn between normal and pathological developments of the falling-in-love process, and the term infatuation is suggested as a suitable inclusive label for the pathological states that can develop. The phenomenology of falling in love and infatuation is outlined in detail and then summarized in a chart. The incidence of infatuation is discussed, and finally a suggestion is made as to its essential dynamic basis.
References
1.
BalintM. (1965). Primary Love and Psychoanalytic Technique, Tavistock Publications, London.
2.
BrassaiM.Picasso and Co., Thames & Hudson, London.
3.
FenichelO. (1946). The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London.
4.
FreudS. (1922). Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, International Psychoanalytic Press, London.
5.
FreudS. (1930). Civilization and Its Discontents, Norton, New York.
6.
KrisE. (1964). Psychoanalytic Explorations in Art, Schocken Books, New York.
7.
MedlicottR. W. (1968). Erotic professional indiscretions, actual or assumed, and alleged. Aust. N.Z. J. Psychiat., 2: 17.
