Role of negative experiences in past relationships and adverse childhood experiences in morbid jealousy

Abstract

BACKGROUND : Morbid jealousy is a relatively common and disabling mental health entity. Psychological theories suggest experiences of being cheated-on in previous relationships and childhood experience of parents having or being accused of having extramarital relationships as aetiological factors of morbid jealousy. However this has not been studied adequately. METHOD : A retrospective case control study was conducted based on clinical records of patients admitted to the psychiatric unit in a tertiary care hospital in Sri Lanka over a 14 month period. Patients with morbid jealousy were considered as cases and those admitted with other psychiatric diagnoses were considered as controls. RESULTS : Of 2708 patients, 131 (4.8%) were identified to have morbid jealousy. In patients with morbid jealousy, a majority were males, average age was 42.8 years and schizophrenia was the commonest diagnosis. There was a statistical significant association between morbid jealousy and past experiences of being cheated-on or childhood experiences of parents having or being accused of having extra-marital relationships. DISCUSSION : Morbid jealousy was a common presentation. The significant association between morbid jealousy and above experiences could be due to a true association, recall or interpretation bias by patients with morbid jealousy, or more diligent exploration by clinicians when it comes to patient with morbid jealousy. Except for the last explanation, this association has treatment implications.