China: 18-year-old girl diagnosed with 'love brain' after calling boyfriend over 100 times daily
Xiaoyu's obsessive love with her boyfriend escalated to the point that she called him over hundreds of times daily and smashed household items when he did not respond. Xiaoyu was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, colloquially referred to as "love brain".
Beijing: In a bizarre development, a Chinese teenager has been diagnosed as suffering from "love brain" after she was found calling her boyfriend more than 100 times a day. The 18-year-old girl, nicknamed Xiaoyu, hails from the Sichuan province in southwestern China, and her recent obsession severely impacted her mental health and made her boyfriend miserable, reported South China Morning Post.
As per reports, Du Na, a doctor at The Fourth People's Hospital of Chengdu, said Xiaoyu's unusual behaviour began in her first year of university when she and her boyfriend entered into an intimate relationship. The boyfriend reportedly became uncomfortable and stifled as Xiaoyu became heavily dependent on him and needed him around all the time.
The teenager also badgered her boyfriend to constantly tell her his whereabouts and demanded he return her texts at all hours of the day and night. “He was expected to reply to her messages immediately,” Du said. A viral video clip showed Xiaoyu repeatedly messaging her boyfriend to switch on his WeChat camera, which he ignored.
Things worsened when the teen called him more than 100 times in a single day but he did not answer. Xiaoyu became so upset by this that she began to throw household objects and smash them around her home. This prompted the boyfriend to call the police, who arrived just in time as she threatened to jump from the balcony.
Xiaoyu was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, referred to as "love brain", which is not an official medical term. Du said the condition might coexist with other mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder, adding that the mental illness often occurred in people who did not have a healthy relationship with their parents during childhood.
She said people with a mild form of the condition, whose lives were not adversely affected, could recover on their own by learning to manage their emotions. On the other hand, people who suffer from extreme symptoms need medical help. Notably, a chat support service is booming in China for those so fixated on romance they have lost the ability to act rationally.
The story attracted 84,000 comments on Chinese social media platform Douyin. "Isn’t she just a control freak?” said one netizen there. "I wonder if I have a love brain? I feel like I act like her," said another individual. According to reports, the majority of people suffering from "love brain" are primarily Gen Z women, predominantly aged 18 to 25.