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A relationship specialist has cautioned couples about Rebecca Syndrome because of the serious damage it may do.
Whether it’s a fight over who gets to throw the socks in the hamper or who gets to load the dishwasher first, we’ve all had challenges in our romantic lives.
This one, though, goes a bit farther than just fighting at home.
Be careful—this syndrome can cause harm to you and anyone around you. Keep reading to learn more about it.
Psychotherapist Toby Ingham recently wrote a blog article that clarified the disorder and its triggers, which can lead to terrifying manifestations.
Google searches for the condition have been on the rise since 2018, with experts reporting an uptick in questions about the condition. Ingham shared this information, stating that patients are increasingly diagnosing themselves.
The character ‘Rebecca’ from Daphne du Maurier’s 1938 gothic book served as inspiration for the word, which was coined by psychotherapist Dr. Darian Leader.
Lily James also played the live-action role in the 2020 film of the same name.
Rebecca was a made-up character that had some potentially compulsive habits in her personal life and in her romantic relationships.
Despite numerous detours, her passion eventually led to her life’s disintegration.
The condition manifests itself, like Rebecca, in a person’s jealous tendencies as a result of their fixation with their partner’s former relationships.
The object of the obsession need not be an ex; facts regarding previous sexual partners may also occupy their obsessional thoughts.
If you see any of these symptoms, it could be a sign that you have it.
No matter how attractive, intelligent, charismatic, or sexually alluring you are, you run the risk of comparing yourself to their ex.
There may be a feeling of insecurity, questioning everything about your relationship due to this nagging feeling that their ex was better than you are, or special in some way you are not.
This type of thinking could even contribute to obsessional neurosis, which basically ‘describes a condition where the mind is intruded upon by compulsive words, images, or ideas. These uncontrollable, obsessive thoughts dominate the mind,’ as per Ingham.
According to him, retroactive jealousy, or Rebecca Syndrome, begins in early life.
He told MailOnline: “While these early problems will be unique to each of us, they may, for example, relate to our having felt overlooked by a parent who preferred one of our siblings to us.
Maybe it’s because we struggled with feelings of insignificance or exclusion within our biological family.
According to him, relationships can take a hit when people project their unresolved emotions onto them.
He added: “Ask yourself whether your anxiety, your intrusive thoughts about feeling less important to your partner than their former partner, may really relate to your own past rather than it being anything to do with your current relationship.”
To avoid getting this syndrome, it’s important to avoid information that could cause you to become fixated and to break away from obsessive thinking.
Ingham said: “Don’t ask about your partners’ past, particularly their sexual histories, oversharing at the start of a new relationship often comes back to haunt us.”
