why obsessive love feels comforting

suppport me on patreon: patreon.com/bazazilio --- why are we obsessed with stories about obsessive love, why do we find them comforting and soothing? something about them makes them fun to engage with, even if we never want to experience a love like that in reality. --- sources: [1] Eva Illouz, “Hard-Core Romance,” 2014. https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/... [2] Jayne Ann Krentz, “Trying to Tame the Romance. Critics and Correctness,” 1992. [3] Seko Yō and Kikuchi Masayo, “Mentally Ill and Cute as Hell,” 2022. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2022.73... [4] Sutherland, Kate, “Divine Madness On the Aetiology of Romantic Obsession,” 2022. https://doi.org/10.53765/20512201.29.... [5] Harvard Art Museums, “On the Path of Madness,” 2025. https://harvardartmuseums.org/exhibit... [6] Dorothy Tennov, “Love and Limerence,” 1979. http://archive.org/details/lovelimere... [7] Stendhal, “On Love,” 1822. http://archive.org/details/onlove01sten [8] Sigmund Freud, “Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego,” 1921. [9] Julia Kristeva, “Tales of Love,” 1983. [10] Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, “Carmilla,” 1872. http://archive.org/details/carmilla00... [11] H. D. Carlton, “Haunting Adeline,” 2021. [12] Lynda Barlow, “The Androgynous Writer,” 1992. [13] Susan Elizabeth Phillips, “The Romance and the Empowerment of Women,” 1992. [14] Lauren Berlant, “The Female Complaint,” 2008. [15] Eva Illouz, “Consuming the Romantic Utopia,” 1997. [16] “The Concept of the Guardian Spirit in North America.” [17] B. J. Oropeza and In Christ, “Do Guardian Angels Exist?,” 2021. https://www.patheos.com/blogs/inchris... [18] “How Many Angels Are Assigned to Each Person in Islam?,” 2025. https://islamqa.info [19] Emily Brontë, “Wuthering Heights,” 1847. [20] bell hooks, All about love, 1999 chapters: 0:00 obsessed with obsessive love 4:18 1. narcissism 5:09 limerence 9:00 love is narcissistic 12:38 hot simps 17:00 2. care 18:09 is love our secret power? 20:21 love is the new religion 24:03 epidemic of lovelessness 26:32 merging 28:33 love vs. cathexis