Chapter 11 - Cultural Factors in Erotomania and Obsessional Following

Abstract

This chapter investigates obsessional followers who have gained growing attention in the media and forensic literature. Researchers have detached the concept of erotomania from the arcane annals of psychiatric and psychological literature. They have also made the understanding of obsession following, stalking, and domestic violence clinically more relevant. A theoretical link exists between the concepts of erotomania and culture shock in the psychoanalytic literature. Identity problems have also been discussed in the dynamic formulation of both culture shock and erotomania. Culture distress has been described as a precipitant in identity troubles. It is because an individual may momentarily experience a crack in the continuity of the self as it interacts with an unfamiliar environment. The link between social isolation and obsessional followers, whether erotomanic or not, is quite strong. Impaired reality testing is a basic feature of erotomanics and obsessional followers. This is because the bend in their awareness of the relationship is the basis for the unwanted pursuit. The clinician can gain more relevant diagnostic information from the patient by investigating the culture of origin, cultural identity, current environmental stressors, support system, and relationship to the host culture.