Morbid jealousy (also known as Othello Syndrome or Delusional jealousy) is a psychiatric disorder in which a person holds a strong delusional belief that that their spouse or sexual partner is being unfaithful without having any, very little, or insignificant proof to back up their claim.
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This disorder occurs when a person typically makes repeated accusations that that their spouse or sexual partner is being unfaithful, based on insignificant, minimal, or no evidence, often citing seemingly normal or everyday events or material to back up their claims.
Unlike other delusional disorders, people who suffer from this disorder have a strong association with stalking, cyberstalking, sabatoge, or even violence. It can be found in the context of schizophrenia and delusional disorder, such as bipolar disorder, but is also associated with alcoholism and sexual dysfunction and has been reported after neurological illness.
The name "Othello Syndrome" comes from the character in Shakespeare's play Othello, who murders his wife as a result of a false belief that she has been unfaithful. Recently some workers have asserted that Othello was deceived rather than deluded about Desdemona’s alleged infidelity and thus did not have ‘the Othello Syndrome’.[1]
Men and women differ dramatically when it comes to morbid jealousy. Men who suffer from morbid jealousy they are more likely than women to use violence and also they are more likely to harm or kill with their hands rather than a blunt object. Women on the other hand, when using violence, would rather use a blunt object or a knife.[6] Men focus on the rival’s status and resources when it comes to the threat of jealousy they fear. Women tend to become more jealous of a potential threat on their rival’s youth and physical attractiveness. [7]
"It has been suggested that morbid jealousy may potentially arise in response to reduced sexual function”. Cobb (1979) drew attention to the elderly man whose waning sexual powers are insufficient to satisfy a younger wife.
For men the strongest trigger is sexual infidelity and with women the strongest trigger is emotional infidelity. If partner related violence does not stop infidelity from happening the male mate will sometimes resort to suicide instead. The final resort to stopping infidelity inside of morbid jealousy is to commit partner murder. Women are much less likely to kill their partner, unless it is in self-defense. Morbid jealousy can occur in a number of conditions such as chronic alcoholism, addiction to substances other than alcohol i.e. morphine, cocaine, amphetamines. Organic brain disorders i.e. Parkinson's, Huntington's. Also with schizophrenia, neurosis, affective disturbances or personality disorders. [8]
Alcohol and drug misuse has a well-recognized association with morbid jealousy. “In two studies, morbid jealousy was present in 27% and 34% respectively of men recruited from alcohol treatment services” (Shrestha et al, 1985; Michael et al, 1995). Amphetamine and cocaine increase the possibility of a delusion of infidelity that can continue after intoxication stops. (Shepherd, 1961). Once case study by Pillai & Kraya discovered a man that was prescribed dexaphetamine for adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and he later developed morbid jealousy (2000).
Mullen (1990) considered morbid jealousy to be associated with four features:
In Morbid jealousy, the overall basis of the psychopathological experience is the preoccupation with a partner’s sexual infidelity. The most common cited forms of psychopathology in morbid jealousy are delusions and obsessions.
Biological
Psychological
Social
When suspicions of the partner’s fidelity arise, they quickly become all that is thought about. Certain behaviors such as, interrogation of the partner, repeated telephone calls to work and surprise visits, stalking behavior, or hiring a private detective to follow the partner, are all common in trying to determine if there is truly infidelity or if it is just perceived. Individuals that are jealous may take drastic measures such as searching the partner’s clothes and belongings, look through diaries and other communication methods (email, text messaging) even as drastic as examining bed sheets, undergarments and even genitalia for evidence of sexual activity.
Suicidal thought is unfortunately common in morbid jealousy, especially because of its association with depression and substance abuse.
Violence can occur in any relationship tainted with jealousy, either normal or morbid jealousy. In a recent study of jealousy by Mullen & Martin in 1994, 15% of both men and woman reported that at some time they had been “subjected to physical violence at the hands of a jealous partner.” Culturally, jealousy may be even used to “justify violence towards partners.” Victims in a homicide case are most likely to be current or ex-partners, in both female and male perpetrators. When a partner repeatedly denies infidelity this may provoke anger and ever extreme violence. On the other hand, the partner that is suffering may give up and give a false confession, which in turn most likely will provoke rage in the jealous individual. In the US a sample was taken of 20 participantss with delusional jealousy. 19 were male and Silva (1998) found that 13 had threatened to kill their spouse because of their perceived infidelity. Of the 13 males, 9 acutally attacked their spouse. Out of the 20, a weapon was used by 3 of them, and 12 had harmed their spouse. A presence of paranoid delusions and hallucinations of injury to the spouse were most often associated with violence. This suggests that individuals that suffer from delusional jealousy that partake in violence may be solely driven by psychotic phenomena. A higher risk of assault was associated with alcohol consumption.
Children that live in a household with a parent that suffers from morbid jealousy may suffer emotional and/or physical abuse as a direct result of the actions made by the parent. Children may also accidentally overhear arguments or witness physical violence between their parents. They could even be potentially accidentally injured during assaults. The morbidly jealous parent may employ a child or more than one to spy on the other parent. Unfortunately it is not out of the questions for a child to see a homicide or suicide where their parent is the victim.