by DANIEL LENDE
Othello Syndrome is a type of delusional jealousy, marked by suspecting a faithful partner of infidelity, with accompanying jealousy, attempts at monitoring and control, and sometimes violence. The problem is named for Shakespeare’s Othello, who murdered his beautiful wife Desdemona because he believed her unfaithful.
I came across Othello Syndrome because of a fascinating article at The Dana Foundation, When a drug leads to suspicions of infidelity. Here we have a mental illness induced as a side-effect in some patients as a result of taking dopamine to help with Parkinson’s disease.
In rare cases the treatment, which attempts to boost dopamine levels, brings on this stubborn delusion, which can transform a previously trusting relationship into a nightmare of suspicion, bitterness, and relentless accusations of infidelity.
The sheer strangeness of Othello syndrome aroused the curiosity of Keith Josephs, a professor of neurology at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minn.
“I think of Othello syndrome as a delusion —an abnormal thought, sort of like believing in aliens,” said Josephs, winner of the 2009 Judson Daland Prize for outstanding achievement in patient-oriented research. “It’s as though a man decides, ‘My wife is having an affair, and no one is going to talk me out of believing that.’”
As an illustration, Josephs describes a 42-year-old man with Parkinson’s disease who started to demand frequent sex from his wife while he was taking pramipexole, a drug that binds to dopamine receptors and mimics the action of dopamine. The man also was taking a combination of carbidopa and levodopa, which work together to boost levels of dopamine in the brain.
Under the influence of these drugs, the man started to accuse his wife of having an affair. He obsessively watched the driveway because he expected to find a car parked there, waiting to pick up his wife so she could go off and have sex. He also lost $3,000 while trying to satisfy a sudden urge to gamble, and came home one day with two new fishing poles even though he already owned five.
Neuroanthropology for more