What does the word "limerence" describe?

Limerence is a state of mind which results from romantic or non-romantic feelings for another person, and typically includes melancholic thoughts and/or tragic concerns for the object of one's affection as well as a desire to form or maintain a relationship with the object of love and to have one's feelings reciprocated. Limerence can also be defined as an involuntary state of intense desire.

Psychologist Dorothy Tennov coined the term "limerence" for her 1979 book, "Love and Limerence: The Experience of Being in Love", to describe a concept that had grown out of her work in the mid-1960s, when she interviewed over 500 people on the topic of love.

It describes an obsessive attachment to a particular person or “limerent object” (LO) that interferes with daily functioning and the formation and maintenance of healthy relationships.

It is characterized by intrusive thinking and pronounced sensitivity to external events that reflect the disposition of the limerent object towards the individual. It can be experienced as intense joy or as extreme despair, depending on whether the feelings are reciprocated. It is the state of being completely carried away by unreasoned passion or love, even to the point of addictive-type behavior. Usually, one is inspired with an intense passion or admiration for someone. Limerence can be difficult to understand for those who have never experienced it, and it is thus often dismissed as ridiculous fantasy or a construct of romantic fiction.