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Introduction: Pathological love (PL)–behavior characterized by providing repetitive and uncontrolled care and attention to the partner in a romantic relationship–is a rarely studied condition, despite not being rare and causing suffering. This study aims at investigating impulsivity, personality, and characteristics related to the romantic relationship in this population.Methods: Eighty-nine individuals (50 with PL; 39 individuals with no psychiatric disorder) were compared regarding impulsivity, personality, type of attachment, satisfaction with romantic relationship, and love style.Results: Individuals with PL have higher levels of impulsivity (P<.001; Barratt Impulsiveness Scale), higher self-transcendence, that is, are more unconventional and hold sense of communion with a wider reality (P<.001; Temperament and Character Inventory) and keep dissatisfactory romantic relationships (P<.001; Adapted Relationship Assessment Scale).Conclusion: Individuals with PL present personality traits and relationship aspects that must be taken into account in devising assessment and therapeutic strategies for this population.

The progress of research may bring broader precision on the clinical, etiologic and comorbid features. Thus, this woud be favoring an effetive approach to the bearer, adding a potential repercussion on the affective life of a significant number of people.

ResumoContexto: Diversas metodologias foram desenvolvidas para validar instrumentos psicométricos. No entanto, na literatura científica, há escassez de instrumentos para avaliar os relacionamentos amorosos. Objetivo: O presente trabalho tem como objetivo validar para o português o conteúdo dos instrumentos autoaplicáveis Love Attitudes Scale (Escala de Atitudes do Amor -Hendrick et al., 1998), Relationship Assessment Scale (Escala de Avaliação do Relacionamento -Hendrick, 1988) e Adult Attachment Types (Tipos de Apego do Adulto -Hazan et al., 1987), levando em consideração o contexto cultural brasileiro e, consequentemente, possibilitando que o estudo do amor patológico seja viável na população brasileira. Métodos: Tal processo envolveu quatro etapas: (1) tradução para o português, (2) retrotradução, (3) apresentação da versão corrigida para profissionais de saúde mental e estudantes universitários e (4) aplicação da versão final em amostra da população-alvo utilizando uma escala analógico-visual. Resultados: As escalas foram facilmente compreendidas e discriminaram significativamente indivíduos com amor patológico de voluntários saudáveis. Conclusão: Nossos resultados mostram que a versão brasileira desses instrumentos é válida e pode ser usada em investigações envolvendo relacionamentos amorosos.Berti MP, et al. / Rev Psiq Clín. 2011;38(4):135-8 Palavras-chave: Amor, escalas, comportamento compulsivo, validação, tradução. AbstractBackground: Several methodologies were developed to validate psychometric instruments. However, there are, in the scientific literature, a lack of instruments to evaluate romantic relationship. Objective: The present work aims at validating into Portuguese the content of the self-report Love Attitudes Scale (Escala de Atitudes do Amor -Hendrick et al., 1998), the Relationship Assessment Scale (Escala de Avaliação do Relacionamento -Hendrick, 1988), and the Adult Attachment Types (Tipos de Apego do Adulto -Hazan et al., 1987), taking the Brazilian cultural context into consideration, thus rendering the study of pathological love in the Brazilian population feasible. Methods: Such process involved four stages: (1) translation into Portuguese, (2) back translation, (3) presentation of the translated version to mental health professionals and university students, and (4) application of the final version in a sample of the target population using a rating scale. Results: The scales were easily understood and significantly discriminated individuals with pathological love and healthy volunteers. Discussion: Our results show that the Brazilian version of these instruments is valid and may be used in investigations involving romantic relationships.

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