Stalking, sometimes referred to as erotomania, is a subject that attracts fascination and fear, often portrayed in its most dramatic and extreme form in films and novels. While intense infatuation is a state of mind we have all encountered, particularly when first in love, the continued state of pursuit and obsession of another person who has rebuffed our advances can move beyond acceptable limits of human behaviour.

Chasing the unattainable is something that we can all imagine, especially when that elusive object offers the promise of longed-for bliss and fulfillment. Classified in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual V as a subtype of delusional disorder, erotomania, or de Clérambault's syndrome, refers to the belief that someone is in love with us, when they are not, and continuing in this delusion, often through taking actions to contact that person. It is both unusual as a condition, and familiar as a state of mind.

As a clinician who has treated women and men with erotic obsession that borders on the delusional and moves into dangerous territory, I am particularly interested in the early attachment experiences of those who end up stalking, and the reactions of their victims—the objects of their preoccupations. There is a fine line between "ordinary" infatuation or limerance, and obsessive stalking, where the organising principles of daily life are focussed on real or imagined contact with the loved one through tracing their movements, studying their social media posts, or creating fantasy encounters.

The relationship between stalker and stalked is one that is far more nuanced than sometimes appreciated. The degrees of........

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