Obsessional jealousy: A narrative literature review

Abstract

Context: Obsessive jealousy is a highly disturbing disorder that is usually unrecognized, as most studies are concerned with delusional jealousy. The aim of the present article was to provide a narrative review of studies conducted on obsessional jealousy and associated factors. Evidence Acquisition: A literature search was conducted using electronic databases, including MEDLINE/PubMed, Google Scholar, Psycho INFO, EMBASE,Web of Science, and Scopus for articles published between 1976 and April 2016. Results: The core of jealous concerns was found to be different between males and females. Patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) had greater concerns about their partner than healthy individuals. Studies suggested a phenomenological overlap between OCD and obsessional jealousy, for which anti-OCD treatment could be useful. Conclusions: Different terms were found for symptoms associated with obsessive jealousy, such as cognitive jealousy or neurotic jealousy. The term obsessional jealousy should be standardized in psychiatry reference books. It could be used in scales applied for diagnosis and evaluation of OCD.