‘Desire in one of its rawest forms’: what do we know about limerence?

For months after her relationship ended, Anna* couldn’t stop thinking about him.

Each morning she’d wake with a jolt of grief; an intense, almost physical feeling that morphed into thoughts of him that consumed nearly every waking hour.

Most nights she fell asleep playing mental reruns of conversations and imagined reconciliations in her mind.

For many people, longing like this sits within the broad terrain of ordinary romantic yearning. The kind often lamented in poetry, music and film. But for Anna, what began as familiar ache slowly intensified, becoming almost unbearable.

“It felt invasive,” she says. “Like my own mind was stalking me.”

At first Anna thought she was simply struggling to move on from her ex-partner. But when the obsessive thoughts escalated, she sought help from he