I’m still a little taken aback by how limited the awareness of limerence is in popular culture. In fact, there is even a surprising dearth of information about limerence on the web. Here are some of the resources that have helped me:
For general definitions and descriptions, the wikipedia page is really quite good.
For an excellent general resource, with essays, videos and a supportive forum, you can’t top limerence.net.
For a psychological perspective, there are some popular psych pages that summarise the current view of limerence in that community. Also, for a bit more detail, there is a paper available here that covers the apparently emerging view that limerence should be regarded as an addictive disorder. This does seem to be the way the field is evolving since Tennov coined the term, which makes some sense from the perspective that if it’s not causing a problem for the individual then it doesn’t need a special descriptor. Another perspective, though, is that it diminishes the concept of limerence as a common experience that can help people understand their experience of love better, because it limits it to the extreme cases.
It is surprising and frustrating to me that the experience Tennov recognised has not gained more popularity. A few mainstream media sites have picked up the concept and run articles about it as a curiosity, but there does not seem a general awareness that limerents and non-limerents have a fundamentally different experience of love, and that those differences are likely to be the root of a lot of heartache. If limerents were educated about the nature of their condition at a formative age, I’m sure it would result in a much better outcome in terms of forming stable and healthy relationships.
Ah well. Maybe this site can do some good.