After quite a bit of introspection and self-analysis during my little "mini" road trip to Duluth yesterday, I've become even more curious as to the exact psychology behind someone who's able to experience an almost severe infatuation with someone else that lives in another country.
So I played around with different search terms on Google concerning "intense infatuations," and I stumbled across this article in Wikipedia on an obscure psychological term that appears to be the condition I've been afflicted with over almost a month now. It's called "limerence:"
"...a neologism used to describe an involuntary state of mind which seems to result from a romantic attraction for another person combined with an overwhelming, obsessive need to have one's feelings reciprocated."
At first, I wasn't really sure about the latter half of the definition, but upon further though, this term may very well encompass an important point.
Limerence is considered as a cognitive and emotional state of being emotionally attached or even obsessed with another person, typically experienced involuntarily and characterized by a strong desire for reciprocation of one's feelings - a near-obsessive form of romantic love.... sexual attraction is an essential component of limerence...the limerent is a potential sex partner'.
Limerence is sometimes also interpreted as infatuation, or what is colloquially known as a crush; but in common speech, infatuation includes aspects of immaturity and extrapolation from insufficient information, and is usually short-lived. 'Tennov notes how limerence may dissolve soon after its initiation, as in an early teenage buzz-centered crush',[7] but is more concerned with the point when 'limerent bonds are characterized by "entropy" crystallization as described by Stendhal in his 1821 treatise On Love, where a new love infatuation perceptually begins to transform...attractive characteristics are exaggerated and unattractive characteristics are given little or no attention...[creating] a limerent object.
...Limerence is characterized by intrusive thinking and pronounced sensitivity to external events that reflect the disposition of the limerent object towards the individual, and can be experienced as intense joy or as extreme despair, depending on whether the feelings are reciprocated. Basically, it is the state of being completely carried away by unreasoned passion or love, even to the point of addictive-type behavior. Usually, one is inspired with an intense passion or admiration for someone.
Tennov differentiates between limerence and other emotions by asserting that love involves concern for the other person's welfare and feeling. While limerence does not require it, those concerns may certainly be incorporated. Affection and fondness exist only as a disposition towards another person, irrespective of whether those feelings are reciprocated, whereas limerence deeply desires return, but it remains unaltered whether it's returned or not. Physical contact with the object is neither essential nor sufficient to an individual experiencing limerence, unlike one experiencing sexual attraction.
Hmm... I've really gotta chew on this much more, preferably when I'm not running on no sleep!
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