Infatuation as mental cancer

Cancer is a segment of the body — a cluster of cells — that grows continuously, sans signals, and ignores signals to stop. Most cells age as they replicate, limiting how many times they can divide, but cancers could grow forever. Real cancer also splits to spread thru the body for greater growth, and directs blood vessels to grow to it.

Infatuation is a segment of the mind — a cluster of thoughts — that leads to more of itself, sans prior attention, and continues as such despite any ordinary discouragment. Most thought-chains die out after enough steps, by boredom and limited creativity, but the thoughts in infatuation could stay vivid forever. Real infatuation also splits into new types of thoughts for greater growth, and directs action to pursue — and so perceive — that to which one is infatuated, for perception is the blood of the mind.

As I experienced it, infatuation is a cancer of the mind — a psychoma. I say "mind", rather than "brain", sith infatuation is real only in mind-space, rather than being readily measured by the form or material of the brain.

Angiogenesis inhibitors help treat cancer by reducing the blood supply to tumours. Likewise, you can get less infatuated by opposing what obsession tells you to do, instead avoiding the object of infatuation. Common slow cancer treatments are chemotherapies, which leave side effects as they damage healthy cells. Likewise, as you destroy an infatuation, some separate, useful thoughts may diminish in the process. Even when it seems cured, cancer often lingers to come back, and long after infatuation diminishes near zero, another encounter with the target can prompt it to grow again.

Cancer usually arises from random mutations, made more frequent by smoking, bad diet, and their ilk. Infatuation starts by chance from delusions and mistakes. Given these origins, neither spreads from person to person: an immune system would kill a few transferred cancer cells, and most listeners ignore obsessive remarks as silly.