PATHOLOGICAL JEALOUSY

Among all the passions wherewith human minds are perplexed, there is none that so galleth with restless despite as the infectious sore of jealousy; for all other griefs are either to be appeased with sensible persuasions, to be cured with wholesome counsel, to be relieved in want, or by tract of time to be worn out, jealousy only excepted, which is so sauced with suspicious doubts and pinching mistrust, that whoso seeks by friendly counsel to raze out this hellish passion, it forthwith suspected that he given this advice to cover his own guiltiness. Yea, whoso is pained with this restless torment doubted all, distrusted himself, is always frozen with fear and fired with suspicion, having that wherein consistent all his joy to be the breeder of his misery. -ROBERT GREENE, Pandosto FIVE women with excessive and irrational jealousy of their spouses have long defied my therapeutic efforts and have prompted me to explore the sources and the ramifications of conjugal jealousy. This paper presents my experiences and the formulations that have emerged from them. © 1979 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.