Mental Health

Chinese Teen Who Bombarded Boyfriend With Calls, Messages Diagnosed With 'Love Brain'

By Corazon Victorino | Update Date: Apr 23, 2024 09:24 PM EDT
young couple

young couple | (Photo : Image by Jess Foami from Pixabay)

In Sichuan province, southwestern China, an 18-year-old girl, referred to as Xiaoyu, has been diagnosed with "love brain" syndrome after incessantly calling her boyfriend over 100 times a day.

Local news outlet Yueniu News reported the girl's obsession with her boyfriend severely affected her mental health and made her boyfriend's life miserable.

Xiaoyu and her boyfriend cultivated a close bond, yet he began to feel uneasy and suffocated as she grew overly reliant on him, constantly seeking his presence.

She not only persistently inquired about his whereabouts but also expected immediate responses to her messages, regardless of the time.

Dr. Du Na from The Fourth People's Hospital of Chengdu noted Xiaoyu's dependency on her boyfriend and the detrimental impact it had on both of their lives.

"He was expected to reply to her messages immediately," Du told the local outlet, according to South China Morning Post.

In a widely circulated video, Xiaoyu is depicted sending multiple messages to her boyfriend, urging him to activate his WeChat camera. Despite his lack of response, she persists in making video calls, all of which go unanswered.

On one occasion, she phoned him over 100 times without receiving a reply. This led to her becoming extremely upset and enraged, resulting in her throwing household items and causing damage.

Eventually, the boyfriend contacted the authorities, who arrived just as Xiaoyu threatened to jump from a balcony. She was subsequently taken to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, often colloquially referred to as "love brain."

Du mentioned that the condition could potentially be present alongside other mental health disorders like anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder.

While Du refrained from divulging the specific cause of Xiaoyu's ailment, she noted that it frequently manifested in individuals who had experienced unhealthy parental relationships during childhood.

She further explained that people with a milder manifestation of the condition, whose daily lives remained relatively unaffected, could achieve self-recovery by acquiring skills to regulate their emotions.

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