In the most serious cases the "disease" can also prove fatal, according to some experts.
While the words "You make me sick" may not seem the most romantic Valentine's card message you could send your loved one next week, psychologists believe it may be more apt than people think.
Now they say lovesickness should be taken more seriously, and called for greater awareness among the medical profession.
Frank Tallis, a clinical psychologist in London, examined the historical attitudes to love and mental illness, stretching back to the time of the ancient Greeks. Before the 18th century lovesickness had for thousands of years been accepted as a natural state of mind.
But for the last 200 years it has fallen out of favour with medical practitioners as a proper diagnosis, Dr Tallis said in a report in The Psychologist magazine.
He said that love had been widely linked with "madness", but this was more than just a poetic turn of phrase such as that often used in pop songs.
Lovesick
The close relationship between the two might help modern day doctors in both their diagnoses and treatments, the psychologist said.
Dr Tallis said modern research suggested that the effects of being lovesick could be described in the latest diagnostic terms.
Symptoms can include mania, such as an elevated mood and inflated self-esteem, or depression, revealing itself as tearfulness and insomnia.
Aspects of obsessive compulsive disorder can also be found in those experiencing lovesickness, such as preoccupation and obsessively checking for text messages and e-mails.
Dr Tallis said: "The average clinical psychologist will not receive referral letters from GPs and psychiatrists mentioning love sickness.
"However, careful examination of the sanitised language will reveal that lovesickness may well be the underlying problem.
Love can be fatal
"Many people are referred for help who cannot cope with the intensity of love, have been destabilised by falling in love, or who suffer on account of their love being unrequited."
Dr Tallis said a consequence of this might be a suicide attempt - dramatising the ancient contention that love can be fatal.
He said: "Although there is much modern research into the treatment of relationship and psychosexual problems, there is little dealing with the specific problem of lovesickness.
"Perhaps now is the time for us to take it more seriously and take a lead from those ancient clinicians who diagnosed and treated it like any other complaint."
Prof Alex Gardner, a clinical psychologist in Glasgow and a member of the British Psychological Society, agreed that doctors needed to be more aware of love sickness as a possible diagnosis in their patients.
He said: "People can die from a broken heart. You get into a state of despair and hopelessness. Hopelessness is like a pit and when you are in it, it is very hard to get out, and that is twinned with helplessness.
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"You have no vision and there is no way forward that you can see. You find yourself in such a state of despair that you just curl up and die."
He said that the effect that love could have on some people could lead to an extreme state of physical exhaustion.
The expert said this was caused by a stress reaction which the victim found hard to handle. He also said that in extreme cases love sickness could drive people to take their own life.
Prof Gardner said it may be the case that people going to their GP with the symptoms of love sickness may be given antidepressants to deal with the problem.
But he said in most cases psychotherapy was a better option than "popping a pill" to help patients see their situation in a different way and continue with their lives.
"Love sickness is probably extremely common. "It is not just an adolescent 'disease', because it can affect older people as well," Prof Gardner said.
Are you suffering from love sickness?
Here are some of the possible symptoms to look out for:
Mania - abnormally elevated mood, inflated self-esteem, extravagant gift-giving.
Obsessive compulsive disorder - preoccupation, checking (such as of text messages), hygiene rituals (prior to dating), hoarding valueless but superstitiously resonant items. |
