What is ‘love brain’, the disorder that left a teen in hospital?

A teenager from China has been diagnosed with ‘love brain’ after she became obsessed with her boyfriend. 

Doctors diagnosed the girl, known as Xiaoyu, with borderline personality disorder after she called her boyfriend more than 100 times a day. Her behaviour became so extreme it severely impacted her mental health, and resulted in a hospital admission after she threatened to take her own life. 

Dr Du Na, from the Psychosomatic Medicine Center of Chengdu Fourth People’s Hospital, told Red Star News that Xiaoyu’s behaviour began in her first year of university when she and her boyfriend developed an intimate relationship. 

However, she quickly became reliant on him, needing him around all the time and wanting to know his whereabouts when they were apart.

She demanded he returned her texts immediately whether it was day or night, even when he was sleeping or at work, and repeatedly made asked him to switch on his camera when they were speaking even when he didn’t want to.

On the day she called her boyfriend 100 times, Dr Du said Xiaoyu feared he had left her, and began smashing objects around the house.

When the police arrived at the scene, Xiaoyu was threatening to throw herself off the balcony.

Dr Du diagnosed her with borderline personality disorder, often referred to as ‘love brain’, and recommended that she be hospitalised immediately. 

She said that ‘love brain’ is a condition where a person spends an unhealthy amount of time thinking about their partner and becomes completely dependent on them. 

Dr Du said added the condition might coexist with other mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder.

However, she did not disclose the cause of Xiaoyu’s disorder, but said it often occurred in people who had not had a healthy relationship with their parents during childhood.

However, Dr Du explained that people with a mild form of the condition could recover on their own by learning to manage their emotions.